


Blind Date

by tmariea (OccasionalArtist)



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Dates, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Meet the Family, Slice of Life, Sorey's just a massive sweetheart, Study Date, ice cream date, pool date
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8047939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OccasionalArtist/pseuds/tmariea
Summary: Mikleo let Edna and Lailah set him up on a date, which really, was a mistake.  Just when he's decided he's been stood up and is ready to quit, an attractive stranger sweeps in to save the day.  What will come of it from there, only time will tell.





	1. Blind Date

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this prompt:  
> https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/af/62/6a/af626adabb3c1b9d29c32a28eb26e56c.jpg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikleo let Edna and Lailah set him up on a date, which really, was a mistake. Just when he's decided he's been stood up and is ready to quit, an attractive stranger sweeps in to save the day. What will come of it from there, only time will tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off of [this prompt](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/af/62/6a/af626adabb3c1b9d29c32a28eb26e56c.jpg)
> 
> BIG UPDATE: I have decided, as a result of a certain amount of poking, to also record an audio version of this fic. You can read the first chapter [HERE](https://tmariea.bandcamp.com/track/chapter-1-blind-date). Or the entire fic recorded so far [HERE](https://tmariea.bandcamp.com/releases)

Mikleo checked his phone, and then his watch, and then his phone again.  The only thing this told him was that the time was the same between the two devices, and that he hadn’t gotten any new texts.  The last one had been from Lailah some time that afternoon wishing him luck on his date.  Some luck.  It had concerned him a bit when his date hadn’t shown up on time.  However, he had shrugged it off on traffic, or a last-minute work emergency, or the like, and gone into the restaurant so they didn’t lose their reservation.  Which is how he had ended up sitting alone in an establishment which could be considered upscale by college student standards (if rather standard by most others) and waiting on the other half of his party while the waitstaff hovered.

In retrospect, he never should have let Edna and Lailah set him up.  It was _Edna_ after all.  But he had hoped that Lailah’s involvement would temper her tendency to play jokes on him, and he hadn’t had a date in over a year.  The guy was a friend of Edna’s brother, and the pictures she sent weren’t too bad looking, honestly.  His name was Zaveid, and he was tall, with long hair, a set of white tattoos that just peeked over the top of his loose collar, and a fairly wicked smile.  Not entirely his type, but they had exchanged a few text messages, and he seemed decent enough, so he had decided to try.

And that had landed him in this mess.  He looked up as the waitress finally deemed it had been enough time to float back over after he had initially turned down her offer to get something started in favor of waiting.  “Are you sure I can’t get you something to drink, other than water?  Or maybe put in an appetizer?”

Mikleo considered saying no.  He felt it might seem rude if his date arrived to find he had started without him.  However, there was definitely a limit on what was a reasonable amount of time for a person to read a menu, or to check their phone repeatedly before it became painfully obvious that they were stalling.  He sighed and ordered a random cocktail.  Within a few minutes he had a glass full of muddled raspberries and some form of alcohol and soda in front of him, which served as a nice way to occupy himself while the feeling that he had been stood up steadily increased.

Five more minutes passed, and then another.  The waitress eyed him as she walked by to attend to her other tables, but didn’t ask again to take an order.  Mikleo casually sipped on his drink and gazed around the restaurant.  For the most part, the other patrons were too wrapped up in their own dinner and company to pay him much attention, but a few of the nearby tables seemed to have gotten wise.  There was one woman in particular, who appeared to be perhaps in her forties and kept sending glances his way whenever she thought he wasn’t looking.  They were a mix of sympathetic and condescending, and that rankled him.

He downed the rest of his drink, instantly regretting the raspberry seeds in his teeth, and considered his options.  He could, of course, just order dinner and pretend that it was his intention all along.  But of course the waitress knew, and she had probably told all of her co-workers.  He knew how retail and food service went, especially on a slower night like this.  A guy obviously getting hung out to dry by his date was a prime topic for gossip.  So eating alone was a no go.

Maybe, just maybe, it was time to give it up.  Mikleo’s pride was not fond of this option, but buying another drink was looking far too attractive.  It would be even worse for his pride if he was not only ditched, but ditched and sloshed.  He scanned the dinning room for his waitress in order to settle up, but before he could spot her, there was suddenly another person at the table.  It was a boy who looked to be about his age, with tousled brown hair, a dark blue button-up, and cuff earrings sporting rather large feathers.

“Sorry I’m so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now!” The new addition to Mikleo’s table declared loud enough for the patrons to either side to hear.  Then he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “I’m Sorey.  Just go with it, yeah?  Whoever didn’t show is a dick.”

Mikleo blinked and looked away from a pair of very green eyes, trying to process what had just happened, before his brain provided him with two very unhelpful thoughts.  The first was a desire to blurt out ‘who the hell are you?’  Which would not be polite, since the guy in front of him was saving him from the very public humiliation of being stood up, and would entirely ruin the excuse.  The second was ‘oh shit, he’s hot.’

The third thought, at least, was about as normal as it could get.  “Mikleo,” he replied, still in an undertone. 

Sorey’s face lit up with perhaps the brightest, most sincere smile Mikleo had ever seen at this minor acknowledgment that he was willing to go along with the ruse.  He could feel himself getting flustered in response, given that he was still reeling over this stranger’s appearance in the first place.  With his luck and complexion, it was far too possible that he was embarrassingly red.  This guy was truly something else.

“So how was your day?” Sorey asked, and winked.  It was written all over his face that he knew he had provided a perfect opportunity for Mikleo divulge a few details on himself without blowing their cover.

“Ah, well, my classes at Elysia were over before lunch.  So I picked up an extra shift at the ice cream shop before coming here.  What about you?”  He couldn’t help but notice that the boy had seemed to perk up at the mention of Elysia College.

“Well, I spent most of the day fighting with the registrar’s office.  I’m hoping they’ll take all of my transfer credit from Ladylake, but I’m really not sure.  Oh man, it would be such a pain to have to try to make up a whole year’s worth of general ed requirements!”  So that was it.  Sorey had to be transferring to Elysia; it was the only college in the area.  And he was probably a second year, same as Mikleo.  He had to wonder exactly what had made Sorey want to leave the far larger and more prestigious Ladylake University, a few weeks into the term no less.  But that was perhaps prying a bit much for someone he had so far exchanged less than ten sentences with.

“So, have you decided what courses you’re going to take yet?” He opted to ask instead, thankfully feeling like he was regaining a bit of his composure.  And from that calmer perspective, he realized that he was maybe having fun with this.  It was kind of like a game – how to go about exchanging all of the most basic, introductory information while still making it look like they knew each other well.

“I haven’t officially signed up for any yet.  There was a course on the ancient culture of Rolance that looked interesting, and another in Era of Asgard architecture that I’m mildly dying to take.  Also, the classics department requires at least a year in the Ancient Tongue, so I’ll need to do some of that, but I don’t know if there are any seats left this term.”

Mikleo was about to mention that he had taken the Era of Asgard class, when the waitress put in a reappearance.  She was wearing a kindly, and slightly relieved smile.  Mikleo was sure that he and the sudden appearance of his late ‘date’ would continue to be a topic of conversation back in the kitchen.

“So, what can I get you boys?”

Sorey glanced at her, and then Mikleo, before making a sheepish face while he rubbed one finger at his cheek.  “You go first,” he said, and then turned his eyes quickly to the menu, which it seemed he was just now noticing.

“I’ll take the stuffed mushrooms, with a small side of risotto.  And another drink.”  Mikleo proffered his menu and empty drink glass to the waitress.  She took them before turning her attention back to Sorey.

“Umm, I think I’ll do the barbeque ribs.  And water is fine for me.”

As soon as the waitress had scurried off to put in the order, Mikleo raised an eyebrow.  “Ribs, really?”  The dish was bound to be massively messy.  It was a ballsy choice for a fake first date.

“What?  I love barbecue meat.  And what about you then?  Stuffed mushrooms?  Seems like the kind of dish a girl would order to convince her date she eats healthy.”  There was obviously no maliciousness in the words, only teasing.

Nevertheless, Mikleo deadpanned without breaking character, “Babe, did you seriously forget I’m a vegetarian?”

“Oh my god, I am so sorry.  I shouldn’t have said that.  And right after I said I love meat!  Crap.  Please forgive me?”

“Well, given the circumstances…” He turned up his nose in a haughty expression, and watched in amusement as Sorey worked himself up to an impressively flustered state.  As much as it didn’t actually bother him what other people choose to eat, Mikleo couldn’t help but rib him a bit.

Okay… he felt really ashamed of himself for that one even if he didn’t say it aloud.  Lailah was obviously rubbing off on him a little too much.

“Really, it’s fine.  I don’t mind.  It was funny to watch you react.”

Sorey breathed out a large, relieved sigh, before his face morphed into a pout.  “Hey, what is that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said.  I like your facial expressions.”  His eye twitched as he realized exactly what had come out of his mouth and, even worse, that it had been entirely sincere.  _I like your facial expressions?  What the fuck Mikleo it’s not like you’ve never talked to an attractive guy before.  Pull yourself together._   Across from him, Sorey was turning faintly pink, which just about guaranteed that _he_ was the exact same color as the raspberries in his drink.  He cleared his throat.  “So, uh, that Asgardian Architecture class, it’s taught by Professor Mayvin, right?  I’ve had him before.  His courses don’t exactly fit into the anthropology requirements, but I’ve snuck a few in as electives.”

It was Mikleo’s turn to sigh in relief as Sorey caught on to the topic change.  “Really?  What’s he like?”

“He’s a very engaging lecturer, but you had better be prepared to learn just about every line in the Celestial Record.  He knows that thing back, front, and center, and has written like five majorly acclaimed papers on it.”

Sorey’s face lit up again; Mikleo was starting to think this was practically his normal expression.  He leaned forward, obviously brimming with energy.  “The Celestial Record is amazing!  It’s, like, _the_ defining primary source from before the Age of Chaos.  I’m so excited now!”

“Have you read it then?”  He asked, this time his turn to forget that this was the kind of detail he would know about his ‘date’ already.

“Only about a hundred times over since I was a kid!  That book is the entire reason I got interested in classical history.”

“Well, that will certainly help you catch up.  But you will have other documents to work through too, of course.  Really, the Celestial Record is so vastly important because of the context it provides for other primary sources, like the collections of monolith engravings, or the surviving artwork from the archives of the Earthen Historia.”

Further academic discussion was stalled as their meal arrived, along with a wink from the waitress for Mikleo.  To which he turned exceedingly red, took too big of a bite of his risotto to try to cover it, and ended up having to follow that with an even bigger swig of his drink.  Sorey, saint that he apparently was, only gave a small smile but otherwise pretended not to notice.  They managed to keep up a steady stream of conversation in between bites, whenever it was polite.  And Sorey managed to keep remarkably clean despite his choice of dish.  By the time they had finished their dinner, polished off dessert (vanilla ice cream for Sorey, which made Mikleo determined to get him by the ice cream shop some time to try his own), and split the check, it was fully dark outside.

If asked later at what point the evening had stopped feeling like a fake date and more like talking with someone he had known for years, Mikleo couldn’t exactly say.  But as they exited the restaurant into the faintly chilly evening, he felt entirely content.  In a way, he was glad Zaveid had never showed – this was more fun than he suspected his planned date would have been.

“So, uh…” 

He glanced over to see Sorey looking rather sheepish, with one finger crooked against his cheek.

“Do you think you might like to do this again, but planned this time?  An actual date I mean?”

Later, Mikleo would wonder what exactly had made him so bold.  Perhaps it was the second drink he had over the course of the meal, or maybe the stars were in the right alignment, or maybe he just really _liked_ Sorey.  Whatever, the cause, he worked up his courage to reach out and grab the hand still scratching at Sorey’s cheek, and then plant a feather-light kiss in its place.  Even in the dim light from the restaurant windows, he could see that the other boy had turned about as scarlet as was possible for a person without combusting.  “It’s the least I can do in exchange for saving me.  Shall we trade numbers?”

“Oh, ah, yes, of course!” Sorey stammered, still apparently trying to pull himself together.  He dug in his pocket for a phone and handed it over, while Mikleo passed his as well.

“There.  Done.  And don’t try to avoid me, because I’m sure we’ll see each other around campus.”

“What?  No, of course not!  I’ll definitely text you.  Goodnight Mikleo.”  He gave one final nod of his head and flashed a wide smile before sauntering off down the street.  Mikleo stood and watched him in bemusement for longer than was perhaps necessary.  That was the reason he saw when Sorey leapt up and pumped a fist into the air before continuing down the street.

Later, once he got home, Mikleo pulled out his phone again.  He stared at Sorey’s number for a moment, before deciding that no matter how well everything had worked out, he should not let Edna off the hook.

**From: Mikleo**

So, did you know that your brother’s friend stood me up?

**From: Edna**

Oh my god…

Give me a minute, I’m texting Eizen.

…

He says he’s so sorry, and that going to kick Zaveid’s ass into next week for you.

**From: Mikleo**

You owe me.

**From: Edna**

…

… Yeah, I suppose I should do something to make it up.

**From: Mikleo**

Is that a promise?

**From: Edna**

What do you take me for, Meebo?

**From: Mikleo**

Great.  Now that you’ve promised, I should probably mention that it might have worked out for the best.

**From: Edna**

??????

**From: Mikleo**

Well, if you ever wind up near the classics department, you might even meet him.

**From: Edna**

What?  Him?

Wait, did you pick up another guy?

Meebo, come back here!  Don’t you dare ignore me!

And with that, Mikleo closed out of their conversation to let Edna stew.  And more importantly, to attend to the text he had just received from Sorey.


	2. Ice Cream Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, it's a real date. And a chance for Mikleo to show off his ice cream making skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody (or a lot of somebody’s actually !!! OMG I’m so incredibly flattered) asked for a part 2, so here we are from Sorey’s point of view (way fucking later than promised, please forgive my procrastinating ass). And its… um… like twice the length of the last one, and mostly about ice cream. Also, did I base Mikleo’s ice cream shop on my neighborhood ice cream shop? Yes. Shamelessly.

Not even a fully week into his transfer to Elysia College, Sorey knew that it had been a very good idea.  For one thing, the campus was _beautiful_.  It was nothing but hundreds-of-years-old brick and stone buildings as far as the eye could see; it stimulated his inner (or often outer) history nerd in a way Ladylake’s modern glass and steel structures never could.  He’d managed to convince the registrar to take all but one of his general requirement credits, and he’d gotten a seat in both Introductory Ancient Language I and Era of Asgard Architecture.  His apartment was cozy, and his grandfather’s contacts at the school had been very nice and helpful to him.

But by far, _the best_ thing about his decision to change schools was Mikleo.  Ever since their rather unorthodox meeting, they had texted consistently, if infrequently.  It was the best Sorey could manage for the moment, as busy as he was with setting up his new apartment, running back and forth between professors’ office hours to start catching up, and signing just about every bit of paperwork under the sun.  But whenever he had a free moment or two, he would send off a few texts, and there was almost always a reply waiting the next time he got back to his phone.  He genuinely enjoyed their conversations, and regretted that he hadn’t more time to focus on them, or to spend with the white-haired boy.

As of this weekend though, that was going to change.  Now that Sorey had some semblance of a grip on his life, he was going to call Mikleo up and ask him out on that second date.  Which, of course, led to him sitting on his bed, staring at his phone and wondering: how did one actually go about asking someone out on a date?  Or, well, planning a date.  Mikleo had agreed, provided he hadn’t changed his mind.  Sorey hoped he hadn’t changed his mind.  Would it be okay to text him, or would that be too informal?  Should he call?  Sorey narrowed his eyes at his phone as if it was the source of his problems.  Really, it had all been considerably easier when he was just acting on impulse.

The night Sorey joined Mikleo on their ‘fake’ date, there had certainly been no plan for that, or even, really, a whole lot of conscious decision.  He had returned to his new apartment early in the evening, exhausted from trying to sort out the transfer, and realized that the only food in his possession was a few random non-perishables, like a can of peanuts and a bag of rice.  And his rice cooker was still packed away who-the-hell-knows-where.  Which had prompted him to go explore the restaurants along one of the nearby shopping streets.

After the first two restaurants didn’t have anything to offer which caught his eye, Sorey had come to a sharp halt in front of the third.  It wasn’t so much that he was interested in the food, and more that through the window he had caught a glimpse of one of the most beautiful people he was sure he had ever seen.  The guy had white hair with tips dyed blue, and he could swear he caught a glimpse of violet eyes.  His face looked youthful, with clear skin and a well-defined mouth, which was quirked into… a frown?  As he watched, the guy checked his watch and then his phone, before restlessly picking up the menu.  He put it down a moment later in favor of staring toward the door.  Annoyance and a hint of disappointment darted across his face, and a passing waitress glanced at him sympathetically.

Although Sorey normally didn’t like to see others upset, those expressions had really bothered him.  For some reason, he wanted to make them go away, to see what the guy would look like when he smiled.   _Oh goddamnit, who are you kidding?  You know why: you think he’s cute_ , he told himself off, and then sighed.  Obviously the restaurant was going to be a bust.  He was far too distracted to even take a good look at the menu posted by the door.  He peeled his eyes away and moved off down the street.

It was all a lost cause, really.  No matter how much his stomach had protested, he couldn’t stop thinking about that beautiful boy long enough to decide on a place to eat.  He had deduced based on the guy’s body language and his nice clothes that he must have been waiting for someone, and that someone was late.  Which had somehow led his steps back toward the restaurant in question.  Just to check and make sure whoever it was had arrived.

In the restaurant, at a table for two, the white-haired guy still sat alone, but now with the company of a drink.  As Sorey watched, he had knocked it back and made a displeased face.  Then he snuck a few glances at the other patrons nearby, this time his expression reflecting a bit of embarrassment and a lot of resignation, before resuming his contemplation of the door.  Sorey had checked his own watch; making the rest of the circuit around the street and back took him at least a good 15 minutes.  Whoever this person was waiting on, it didn’t seem like they were coming.  And that was that.  Before his brain had time to catch up with his feet and his heart, Sorey was into the restaurant and plopping down at the guy’s table, loudly declaring for the other diners to hear, “Sorry I’m so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now!”

Looking back on it, that impulse decision might have been one of the luckiest things he had ever done.  He could never have anticipated all of the things they had in common, or the banter feeling so natural.  And at the end of the night, Mikleo had kissed his cheek, given him his number, and accepted his offer for a real date.  An offer which would come go a grand total of nothing if Sorey didn’t gather enough courage to fulfill his end of the bargain now.  He heaved a big sigh, and decided he should just call.  It would be stressful waiting for a reply if he texted.

The line clicked through after three rings, and he could hear Mikleo’s voice, slightly distorted by the call, “Sorey?  What’s up?”

“Well, about that real date, would you still be interested?”

There was a light laugh from the other end of the line.  It sounded so pretty, and genuine, and it did all sorts of weird things to Sorey’s already-nervous insides.  “Of course.”

“Ah, great!  What do you think about Saturday?”

There was a short silence, thankfully not long enough to make him sweat, before Mikleo asked, “Did you have anything in particular in mind?”

Sorey could feel his excitement deflating.  He hadn’t thought that far ahead.  He’d been so concerned about making the phone call in the first place that _making plans_ hadn’t even crossed his mind. “We could always go for another dinner.”  He supplied a standard answer, hoping Mikleo wouldn’t catch on and think him a complete airhead, and then added, “But really, I’m up for anything you would like to do.”

“Well, I have shift at the ice cream shop until 2:30.  It seemed like you like ice cream, so would you perhaps want to come by at, say, 2:15?  Then you could try all the flavors that I help make.”

All of his excitement came flooding back full force, and an enormous grin threatened to split his face.  Mikleo remembered he liked ice cream, and he wanted him to eat ice cream that he had made!  Sorey was pretty sure his cheeks were getting red too.  “That sounds amazing!  Or, er, well not _amazing_ if that’s too forward, but yes.  Let’s do that.”

There was another one of those adorable laughs, before Mikleo said, “I work at the Seraph Ice Cream Parlor.  It’s on the corner of Third and Aqueduct Streets.  Do you know where that is?”

“Vaguely.  I’ll look it up if I need to.  Is it a local chain?  I’ve never heard of it before.”

There weren’t so much words coming from the other end of the line as indignant sputtering.  In a moment, it coalesced into something more coherent:  “No way, this shop has been family-owned for over 50 years!  And all of our ice cream is hand-churned, right in the store.  I think some of our equipment might even be original.  Chain shop, really.  Humph.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Sorey tried to appease, but he couldn’t help but laugh a little himself.  The sheer level of insult radiating through the phone was definitely a bit melodramatic, but also kind of cute.  “It sounds very impressive though.  So I’ll see you on Saturday at 2:15?”

“It’s a date.  Have a good rest of your day Sorey.”

He at least had enough self-control to wait until the call ended before he made an excited, but wordless, exclamation, and flopped back onto his bed in relief.

* * *

 

Sorey had been happy to discover that the ice cream shop was not too far from his apartment.  He had decided to walk despite the fact that it was definitely starting to feel like early October.  That also meant that he got to listen to the scrape of dry leaves on the pavement as they blew down Third Street in the light breeze, rather than focus on the nervous butterflies in his stomach.  Although, as the big sign for Seraph Ice Cream Parlor came into view, that nervousness was starting to morph into excitement.

The name of the place was spelled in blockish font in old neon, and stood out above the eaves, just above a line of the kind of classic lightbulbs that bordered the signs of old theaters and the dressing room mirrors inside them.  Under that was a classic blue and white striped awning, which protected a line of wooden benches, and shaded the enormous plate glass windows.  Through which, he could make out a couple of figures in black tee-shirts with blue logos across the front; one of them had white hair.

Sorey couldn't think of a more apt moment for the metaphor ‘heart leaping into his chest.’ He had known that he wanted to see Mikleo again, but this was like that kind of feeling a couple of times over. He waved enthusiastically before realizing that he probably hadn't noticed him, and then hastened his steps past a set of umbrella-sheltered tables on the sidewalk and up to the front door.

It wasn't so much that Sorey walked into the parlor as he bounded in with a massive smile on his face.  He called out, “Mikleo!” despite the fact that his entrance had drawn a good deal of attention from the couple of other patrons seated at small tables just inside the door.

“Good afternoon and welcome to Seraph Ice Cream Parlor.  How can I help you today?”  Mikleo asked in a very good customer-service voice as Sorey approached the counter.  He was betrayed, however, by the sly grin on his face and sparkle in his eye.

Oh, so that’s how this was going to be.  “Well, I’m supposed to be meeting up with this really good looking guy for a date.  Seen anyone like that around here?”

“I can’t say that I’ve seen anyone particularly attractive at all today.”

“Not even me?”

“Nope.”

“Harsh,” Sorey said, deflating a little.  “This is revenge for implying you might work at a chain shop, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps.  And you really did walk into that one.”

“Mikleo!” A third voice cut into their conversation, coming from a man with deep blue hair who appeared to be a manager.  Sorey had forgotten that there were other people there.  “You have ten minutes left on your shift.  Can you tone down the flirting until then?”  The third employee, a teenage girl, snickered from the other end of the counter.

Mikleo flushed and cleared his throat.  “Yes, of course Uno, sir.”  Then he turned back to Sorey with a smile and said in a more normal manner.  “It is good to see you again.  What kind of ice cream do you want?”

“Well, which ones did you help make?” Sorey took this opportunity to check out the massive chalkboard behind the counter, where prices-per-scoop and ice cream varieties were handwritten in chalk colors corresponding to their flavors. Add in the little cows drawn on the board and a few random decorations, like a massive stuffed bear by the window, led him to the conclusion that the shop was the exact right kind of quirky.

“I always do the vanilla when I can help out in the kitchen, which is why I wanted you to come here in the first place,” Mikleo's voice interrupted Sorey’s musings.  He was looking slightly up and off to the side as he spoke, and counting out flavors on his long, slender fingers. “Today I also worked on coffee, caramel, strawberry, green tea, and mint chocolate chip, which was exciting because I usually only do the flavors rather than anything fancy like swirls or add-ins.  Oh, and I made the mango sorbet, too, but in all technicality that’s different from ice cream.”

“I’m going to have to test all of them to decide.”

He looked flustered.  “But that’s going to be a ton of tasting spoons!”

“I’m sure they’re all awesome, so I want to be able to try some of everything, not just one or two,” Sorey stated, as he scanned the case for the flavors in question.  Everything looked soft and rich, and the scoop shapes in each of the tubs were perfectly rounded, showing that it would probably be smooth too.  He felt himself nearly starting to salivate as Mikleo used a tasting spoon to carve a small bite out of the nearest container, the caramel one.

“Well, I’m flattered,” he said as he passed it over.

Sorey wasted no time popping it in his mouth and marveling at the burst of flavor on his tongue.  “Prepare to be even more flattered, because this stuff is awesome!  I don’t even usually like caramel ice cream, but it’s great.”  They made it through the coffee flavor and the strawberry, with Sorey dishing out honest compliments on each one and enjoying Mikleo’s persistent light blush, before he asked.  “Do you make ice cream every day?”

“No, only when I have weekend shifts.  We make up all the ice cream we need for the day before opening, like a bakery.  So on days when I have morning classes, I can only work the counter.”

“Well that’s a shame.  I would think there should be some of your ice cream out every day.”

Mikleo made himself busy with the next tasting spoon, but not before Sorey saw his cheeks start to color further.  “I learned from everyone else,” he muttered, eyes still fixated on the case even as he stuck out the hand with the spoon, “so it’s nothing special, really.”

“Sure it is.”  Sorey licked it off the spoon and hummed contentedly.  It was the green tea flavor, and it struck that perfect balance between matcha and sweet.

“Are you going to elaborate on that?”

What crossed through Sorey’s mind was: it’s your ice cream so that makes it special on its own.  But thankfully, he had some control over his tongue for the moment being.  He just said, “nope!” with a cheery smile.  Mikleo sighed and passed over a spoon of mint chocolate chip.

It was just as good as expected, and the mango sorbet that followed had just the right fruity tang while keeping a nice texture which was not too icy, but still distinct from ice cream.  But by the time he had dropped the tasting spoon in the little sundae bowl marked ‘used,’ Sorey’s excitement was palpable.  All that was left was the vanilla; it was what Mikleo had specifically wanted to share with him, and he had obviously saved it for last.

Mikleo looked nearly as excited as he passed over the next spoon.  Once Sorey took it, he leaned an elbow on the counter and pressed a few fingers to his lips as he watched with curiosity.  Sorey found himself thinking that the posture was far too adorable, and turned his attention to the ice cream before he could start to stare.  It was just the right snowy white color, and flecked with little black specks that said they used real vanilla beans in the making.  As soon as he put it in his mouth, he knew he was in trouble.  He had always been picky about vanilla ice cream, because its simplicity meant that every component had to be perfect, and this was _perfect_.  It felt like silk on his tongue, and the vanilla flavor came through, instead of just tasting of milk and sugar.  He closed his eyes for a moment to savor the experience, and when he opened them again Mikleo was hiding a laugh behind his hand that brightened his face in the most wonderful way.  The thought rose unbidden to Sorey’s mind that he really was amazing.  _Two dates with the guy, one of them not even official, and I’m completely doomed._

“Okay, well it’s obvious, I’m just going to have to have six scoops of ice cream then!” He exclaimed, hamming it up for the purpose of keeping Mikleo laughing.

“As much as I’m sure the shop would appreciate your bill for that, you’ll make yourself sick.”

He pretended to deflate.  “Alright, fine, but I am in true ice cream heaven, just so you know.  You really are amazing,” Sorey said, deciding to give voice to his thought.

Mikleo’s face colored impressively, and then he tried to hide it behind a front of teasing.  “Oh, so you only like me for my ice cream then?”

“Nope, it’s just an added bonus.”

This did not help with the blush.  It took a moment before he was able to ask in a semi-steady voice, “So, which flavors will you have then?”

“The vanilla obviously.  And a scoop of mango sorbet too, I think, on a waffle cone.”

“Mango sorbet?  That’s not the choice I would have expected.”

“It’s nice because it’s a totally different flavor and texture.  Balance, you know.”

“Whatever you say.”  By the time Mikleo scooped and handed Sorey his ice cream, he had regained his composure.  They made it through the payment process with no further reasons for blushing, although Sorey did receive a large smile and a thanks as when he deposited a large tip in the jar.  Once that was done, he said, “So, as of now, my shift was over just about five minutes ago.  Let me grab my stuff, and we can sit somewhere for you to eat that.”

Sorey nodded an affirmation and waited while eying his cone for potential drips as Mikleo disappeared into the kitchen.  He remerged from a door on the other side of the counter a moment later, having collected a shoulder bag and a blue fleece hoodie.  “Do you want to go out front?  Fair warning, my co-workers are probably going to be staring at the backs of our heads, but at least they won’t be able to eavesdrop.”  True to his statement, the teenage girl twiddled her fingers at them in a wave.

“Sure, that sounds fine,” Sorey replied and headed out the front door.  He glanced back to see Mikleo following him, zipping his coat all the way up to the chin as he stepped out into the chilly air.  “I suppose it is a bit cold out for eating ice cream though.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to stop you.”

“No way!  I’m not wasting all of this.”  He took a seat on one of the farthest benches, positioning them so they weren’t in direct line of sight of the windows.  Mikleo sat down next to him, and they angled toward each other in such a way that their knees nearly brushed.

Just as Sorey was starting to tuck in, Mikleo mentioned, “You know, I’m curious why you decided to transfer.  I mean, Ladylake University has much better facilities, and a wider variety of courses available.  It seems like it would have more to offer.”

“But none of the history, or the architecture!”

Mikleo glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.  That violet gaze was perhaps a bit too perceptive.  “Well sure, I love the campus and all of the old buildings too.  But it seems like a lot of work when you could just _visit_ places like this.”

Sorey sighed and crossed his free arm over his chest without realizing he had done so.  He glanced toward the ground for a moment, suddenly very interested in the crumpled napkin and couple of old spots of ice cream there.  It wasn’t as if he could lie; besides the fact that his ability to lie was practically nonexistent, that was not a good place to start off with someone he was trying to date.  He took a moment to gather his thoughts on the matter, but before he could, Mikleo spoke up again.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.  I’m sorry for pressing.”

“No, it’s alright.  I guess it’s mostly because the school was too impersonal.  Part of why I went there in the first place is because I grew up in this tiny village, and I was excited to be surrounded by so many people.  And then when I got there, I had a hard time actually getting to know anyone –”

A snort cut him off.  “You were the one who just plopped down at my table out of nowhere, and _somehow_ wormed your way into my good graces.  I have a hard time believing that there’s anyone you don’t get along with.”

“Well sure, I could get along with people just fine.  But I just never wound up getting close to anyone.  I guess that’s the kind of skill you sort of skip over when basically everyone you know helped change your diapers,” he chuckled self-consciously, and then licked up a few threatening drips of ice cream to cover it.

“Even worse were the classes though,” Sorey continued.  “All of them were in these massive lecture halls.  I heard about a million times that it would get better once I could start taking specialized classes in my subject, but it didn’t happen that way for me.  I showed up on the first day this year and looked around this lecture hall that was just as big as the rest.  I realized I was surrounded by four hundred people I didn’t know, and the professor sure as hell didn’t know or even really intend to get to know.  That’s pretty much when I decided it wasn’t going to work.”

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you,” Mikleo said.  His face had taken on this soft quality, even if he wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“It’s all okay now!” Sorey hastened to reassure, pulling out a big smile and trying to turn the topic away from such depressing waters.  “My Gramps knows some people here, so the transfer wasn’t too hard.  And I only missed a few weeks of classes because Ladylake runs on a much earlier schedule than Elysia.  This place still feels big to me in comparison to my hometown, so I’m not missing much there, and,” he realized at this point that he was rambling, but he couldn’t just leave that last thought hanging, “and I got to meet you.”

Mikleo flushed bright red, much to Sorey’s enjoyment.  There was something satisfying about flustering him.  “That’s, ah, well, I’m glad I met you too,” he mumbled in the direction of his lap.  His gaze remained there for a moment, before he glanced back toward Sorey with a change of subject.  “Did you get your classes all sorted then?”

“Oh, yeah!  I got everything I wanted aside from the Rolance culture class, but I can take that later.  So I’m doing some generic Literature course in its place, but that’s okay because I’m always in the mood for more books.”  He paused to take a big lick of ice cream before asking, “Have you taken any Ancient Tongue?”

“Quite a bit actually.  It’s really fascinating from an anthropological standpoint since the language isn’t commonly used now.  But did you know that there are still some remote places that speak it?  Not in day-to-day interactions, but in ceremonies and in the creation of important contracts.” 

“Oh, like what?”  Sorey could feel himself lighting up.  This was something that had always been missing at Ladylake too, someone who found history and the ways people interacted as exciting as he did.

“For instance, there are some places where it’s used for any kind of census-type record – births and deaths and adoptions, and the like.  In others, it’s all financial; deeds for houses, contracts for loans, and major business transactions have to contain certain phrases in the ancient tongue or they aren’t considered binding.”

Sorey was fascinated by this new knowledge, he really was.  But half of his brain couldn’t help but peel away and become entranced with watching Mikleo as he spoke and gestured along with his words.  His violet eyes shone with a combination of enthusiasm for sharing his learning and the mellow autumn sunlight, the same sunlight that fell golden on his hair, and made Sorey thing of words like ‘gilded’ and ‘honey.’  He caught himself in these thoughts when a stray drop of ice cream worked its way down to his hand.  He licked it up quickly, hoping Mikleo hadn’t noticed.

“… There’s even a culture where it’s used in marriage ceremonies.  Some of the ceremony it is in common tongue for the sake of the attendees, but the most important vows are made in the ancient tongue.” 

“That’s so cool!” Sorey gushed, his attention falling easily back into the conversation.  “It’s like having a piece of history in the ceremony.  And besides, imagine giving vows in the ancient tongue.  It’s like putting hundreds of generations of tradition and love into the strength of your bonds.”

“Oh, um, wow.  I’m sorry, but there’s not a better way to phrase this – that was really cheesy.” 

He just tilted his nose up a little in the air and replied, “I like to think of it as hopelessly romantic.”

“Sure, sure.”

Sorey looked back down just in time to see that Mikleo had taken advantage of his distraction.  He had produced a tasting spoon from some mysterious locale, and was caught in the process of stealing a bite of mango sorbet.  He did not look properly remorseful at all, even going so far as to smirk as he brought the spoon to his mouth and licked it clean.  In fact, his expression looked far too pleased with himself for someone who had just committed the heinous crime of stealing another man’s ice cream. 

As such, Sorey felt that his resulting indignation was fully justified.  “Hey!  You get to have this stuff all the time!  Not just that, you get to _make_ this stuff all the time.  Give it back!” 

“How?” 

This time, he was ready for the attack on his dessert and tried to block with his own spoon as Mikleo made a second pass at the mango sorbet.  After a few minutes struggle, Mikleo emerged victorious, and took his second bite with what looked like a challenge.  “Hah, I win this time.”

No way, that was not going to stand.  But there was hardly an equivalent way to retaliate.  That’s when Sorey got an idea.  He could feel the wheels in his head start to turn, trying to tell him why it was a bad idea, or that he had no idea what he was doing, but he clamped down on that quick; this was not a moment to be overthinking.  Instead, he leaned slightly to the side to press their mouths together in a kiss.

It was just a light brush of lips really, with no attempts from his tongue to reclaim at least some of his precious ice cream, but it was enough.  The feeling wasn’t like sparks or electricity, like he’d always read, but more of a twirling, tightening feeling in his belly and chest.  Sorey pulled back and blinked a few times, still half-stunned by his own actions.  He reached up a hand to twitch at one feathered earring nervously and searched Mikleo’s face for his thoughts.  He was looking back with a red face and similar levels of surprise, and Sorey wondered if perhaps he had done something wrong, until his eyes lit up with something that looked a lot like mischief.

“Oh, so that’s how,” Mikleo said, and then, with a tiny, wicked smile curling up the edges of his mouth, angled his spoon to steal a bit of vanilla.  This time, Sorey let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Mikleo makes vanilla soft serve, not hand-churned, but it wouldn’t very well be too impressive, or home-made, if I had him working in a Dairy Queen, now would it, lol.  
> Also, I read a translation of some official materials saying that Mikleo can be a bit more straightforward with his feelings, and Sorey is prone to overthinking things. I could see moments of that in the game, but not always. So, I was sort of running with the idea that he’ll act on impulse sometimes, and in those cases he’ll just roll with the punches, but as soon as he gets time to sit down and really contemplate a decision, that’s when the overthinking comes out.


	3. Pool Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the friends! Featuring - Mikleo being a little too good at playing pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ***UPDATE*** As of now, I have hit on a trajectory for this fic, and it is now intended to be a long project. Has been updated to incomplete to reflect this ^.^
> 
> At this point, we’ve rather devolved from the original prompt, and have crossed into the territory of just having fun with this AU. Pardon my indulgence.
> 
> ALSO ~ Shout out to Diam_Senpai for the idea that maybe the girl in the ice cream shop was Rose

Midterms week was over, finally.  It had been a dark few days for Sorey, between finishing up the last bits of his catching up, and preparing for the tests.  On the upside, all of the scrambling he had done meant that he was on track in all of his classes, and he now deserved at least part of the weekend off.  This decision had coincided with a text from Mikleo that morning about a documentary he had gotten his hands on about the restoration work done on the Pendrago Shrinechurch a few years back.  Which was perfect, because all of the little flutters he got at the idea of seeing him again hadn’t worn off.

They had shared two more dinners together since the ice cream date, one in the cafeteria – which was practical amidst the exam-time scramble, but the food unimpressive – and one which Mikleo had cooked for them in the communal kitchen of the his dorm.  That one was much more impressive, for all that it had been entirely vegetarian, and Sorey had wound up eating with the kind of dreamy look on his face that he doubted Mikleo would ever stop teasing him about.  And, maybe now that he was out of the kind of academic overload where he had to hole up like a hermit in order to get everything done, they could start studying together.  That might be… mildly distracting, but nice.

But for now, a relaxing afternoon spent obsessing over the Shrinechurch sounded perfect.  Since Mikleo was providing the documentary, and had offered up his dorm room for the watching, Sorey had taken it on himself to get the snacks while he waited for the last class of the day to finish.  He didn’t have to wait long outside the Marlind Humanities Hall, bag of sundry chips and candies in hand, before the crowds started to pile out.

One of the unexpected perks about Mikleo, Sorey had discovered, was he was always easy to pick out in a crowd due to his hair.  As such, he saw Mikleo before Mikleo saw him.  He called his name, and then grabbed his wrist to draw away from the crowds once he had his attention.

“Sorey,” he said, surprised and half-muffled as he was brought in for a hug.

“It’s good to see you!”

Once they broke apart, Mikleo’s eyes widened just a hair, and color began to run into his cheeks.  “Hi.  It’s good to see you, too.”  He gestured for the two of them to start walking.

Sorey fell in beside him, and snuck another glance at his face.  It was still red, and Mikleo’s eyes snapped over to meet his for a second, before skittering off.  “Is something the matter?” He asked.

“I just… I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sorey said and adjusted the chunky orange frames perched on his nose, “I’m like half-blind, but only in one eye.  I thought a monocle would be awesome, but Gramps wouldn’t let me.  At any rate, I usually only wear them for class or studying, but I didn’t want to miss any details in the documentary.”

Mikleo made a noise of acknowledgement, before he said, “they suit you.”  He spoke in such a casual tone, despite being the one flustered only a moment before, that it made Sorey’s cheeks run red to match.

In search of a distraction, Sorey reached into his bag of snacks and pulled out the first thing he grabbed.  It was a bag of gummy boars, labeled with a picture of a little, cartoon-ish prickly boar, in case anyone happened to be confused about the contents.  “Do you want a gummy boar?  They’re that organic brand, so no gelatin.  I checked,” he explained before Mikleo had the chance to ask.

“You didn’t have to get those.  They’re twice the price of the regular ones.”

“I got all of this stuff for us to eat, though.  It would be no fun if we couldn’t share.”

Mikleo huffed and accepted his defeat, a small smile at the corners of his mouth.  “Sure, I’ll take one.”

Sorey turned his attention to opening the package.  This was considerably more difficult than he had anticipated, given his other hand was still full with the rest of the snacks.  Mikleo watched his struggle, amused, for a moment, before snatching the bag away with quick fingers.  He popped it open and grabbed a few gummies.  Sorey expected him to offer the bag back, but instead, he crossed one arm over his body so that it was just out of easy reach.

“Do you think you’ve got it, or should I feed them to you?”

Sorey nearly choked on air, as his brain turned up an image of Mikleo holding up a gummy boar for him to take with his lips, and threatened to rattle off the first response that came to mind, which was a hearty, ‘yes, please!’  He shook his head to clear it, and as a response.  “I’m alright.”

“Hmm, if you insist,” Mikleo said, and offered the gummies back.  Once Sorey took a few, he held up one of his own so he was looking at its little candy face, complete with tiny tusks and all.  “You know, there’s still a part of me that says I should be conflicted about this.”  He shrugged, and then bit the head off.

Sorey winced.  “Harsh.”

 “It’s just candy, Mr. ‘I love barbeque meat.’  Besides, they taste too good for me to care too much.”

The two of them paused in their decimation of the gummy boar population for Mikleo to unlock the door of his dorm building, and then make their way up the two flights of stairs to his room.  Once he opened the door, he stood back with a dramatized sweeping gesture, as if to welcome Sorey to his domain.  It was a single room, which translated to ‘size of a broom closet.’  But, it was also meticulously neat, in the sort of way that suggested it was always like this, not just cleaned up for company.  Certainly, those five steps from the door to the bed to the desk seemed a lot bigger in the absence of clothes on the floor, or other miscellaneous college student clutter.

“You can just put your stuff on the desk chair.  There’s not much room anywhere else,” Mikleo told him, as he placed his own backpack in the small space between the desk and the wall, and then grabbed up his laptop.  He plopped himself on the bed with his back to the wall and feet hanging off the side, and then patted the spot next to him.  Sorey decided it wasn’t worth thinking about too much as he climbed on to join him; after all, where else were two people expected to sit in this space?

There was a small kerfuffle about where was the best place to locate the laptop so that they could both sit comfortably and not tip it onto the floor.  The end result was the two of them pressed close from ankle to shoulders, with the laptop balanced on their knees and one of Sorey’s arms tucked around the small of Mikleo’s back, so that he could work the mouse without bumping elbows.  It sounded a little like an excuse, especially since Mikleo was left-handed, but he was not going to be the one to bring it up.  Also, his whole arm was going to fall asleep in that position, but if that was the price to feel the warmth and curve of Mikleo’s waist, well, so be it.

They made it halfway through the documentary – an impressive feat given the fact that both of them were prone to pausing it every once in a while for exclamation or debate – when there was a knock on the door.  Mikleo paused the movie, and listened with a perplexed expression, as if waiting to make sure he had heard correctly.  He had just shrugged and pressed play again when there was a second knock.

“Sorry, looks like I’ll have to get this,” he said.  He stood and placed the laptop in his vacated seat before crossing to the door.  Sorey found himself missing the warmth and proximity right away.

The person on the other side was a girl with red hair and a smile that said she found life in general to be great fun.  It took a moment for Sorey to place where he recognized her from, before he realized that she was the other girl who had been working the counter at the ice cream shop on the day of their date.

“Hey, Mikleo!  I thought you would be here,” she said, with a cheery wave.

“Rose, hi.  Was there something you needed?  I actually have Sorey over…” he trailed off as the girl, Rose, began craning around his shoulder to get a glimpse into the room.

“Well, are you going to introduce us and let me in, or will you leave me standing here on your cold, hard doorstep?”

“The building is perfectly well heated, and I don’t have a doorstep,” Mikleo protested, but with an air of defeat.  He pushed the door open wider and stepped to the side.  “Rose, this is Sorey.  Sorey, Rose.”

Rose made her way over to the bed, and held out a hand to shake.  “Nice to meet’cha!”

Sorey took it, and said, “Nice to meet you, too.  Although I think we sort of met before at the ice cream shop.”

“Oh, yeah, I work there part time too.  Ice cream isn’t my thing quite as much as Mikleo’s, but I’m in the business program, so I know better than to pass up an opportunity like a friend getting you a job.  Sorry I didn’t say hi then, but the two of you were just too much fun to watch.”

Then, without warning, Rose leaned in close with an evaluating look on her face.  Given her height, she had to prop one knee on the bed in order to really get into his space.  Sorey found himself wishing that he wasn’t already sitting against a wall, because she was a bit intimidating and he would like the option to back away from that.  “So you are the guy, then,” she said, without ever turning away from her intent scrutinizing, “the one who just waltzed into a restaurant, and proceeded to have a fake date with Mik, which then turned into sort of an actual date?”

“Yes, that would be him,” Mikleo replied, when it seemed that Sorey was having trouble coming up with what to say.

“Good man.  That takes a lot of guts.  I like you,” she declared, before she patted Sorey’s cheek twice, and then backed off to a normal distance.

Sorey blinked for a second, not quite certain what had just happened there.  But Gramps had always drilled him in manners, so he managed to say a shaky, “Thank you.”

“No problem!  Now, Edna and Lailah and I are going to play pool in the student lounge.  Do you want the chance to come and whip our butts, or are you two lovebirds going to stay here and make goo goo eyes at some archaeology documentary?”

“Wait, Edna and Lailah actually agreed to invite me?”  Mikleo asked.

 “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Given the fact that we will show up there, they’re going to find out.”

“Eh, they’ll get over it.  So, what do you say?”

Mikleo looked back at Sorey for confirmation.  It was a look that said that he would be fine with sitting around with the archaeology documentaries if he didn’t feel up to meeting more of his crazy friends.

“I’m up for it,” Sorey said with a shrug, and moved to climb off of the bed.

“Perfect,” Rose said, and marched out of the room, expecting the two boys to trail after her.

When Mikleo paused to lock his door behind them, Sorey leaned down and whispered, “Why would some of your friends not want to invite you to play pool.”

Mikleo turned back around, and there was mischief in his eyes.  It was a look Sorey had now seen a few times, and there was no way around the fact that he liked it.  A lot.  “They just don’t like to lose.”

“Confident, aren’t we?” he asked, pushing past the butterflies in his stomach.

“None of them have been able to win against me yet.”

“Impressive.  Are you, like, a competitive pool player or something?”

“No, but he totally should be.  Or hustle or something,” Rose said as they caught up with where she’d been waiting for them at the stairs.  “He’d make a killing.”

She took the lead while Sorey and Mikleo continued walking side by side as they exited the building.  Sorey had a brief moment of anxiety over whether or not they should hold hands.  They had shared a few kisses by now, after all.  However, he ultimately decided against it; he didn’t have a good enough grasp yet on how Mikleo felt about public displays of affection.  It would have to be a question to ask some time later.

Mikleo, unaware of Sorey’s internal debate, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.  “I’m not going to scam money out of poor innocent people.”

“I definitely recall you scamming candy off of us more than once,” Rose accused.

“The first time was not my fault.  You insisted on making bets.  And really, it’s not my fault either that you didn’t learn after that.”

“So, what about you, Sorey?” She asked, directing the conversation away from her own gullibility.  “How are you at pool?”

He had to take a moment to try to even remember the last time he played pool.  “It’s been a while.  I don’t think I was terrible, though.”

“Oh good, so you’re on par with the rest of us then.”

They walked into the student lounge, and Rose scanned the room before making her way over to two girls sitting at a tall table next to a pool table.  A tray with balls and two pool cues were already laid out on top.

“Rose,” whined the taller of the two girls, who wore a red and white dress and had incredibly long hair in a ponytail.  “I was hoping to try to win today.”

“Don’t whine at me, Lailah, it’s not nice in front of company.”

At this point, the girls seemed to notice Sorey.  Lailah sprung up from the table and made her way over with a bounce in her step.  She stuck out a hand to shake, and for all that she looked somewhat delicate, her grip was firm.  “I’m Lailah, and am I correct in thinking you’re the Sorey we’ve been hearing about?” She waited for his nod of confirmation.  “I was starting to wonder if Mikleo was just going to keep you all to himself.  Very nice to meet you!”

Sorey smiled, finding Lailah’s grin infectious.  “Nice to meet you too.”

At this point, the other girl, who had shoulder-length blonde hair and a white dress, stood up from the table.  Now that she was standing, the height difference between her and Lailah was impressive.  Sorey expected her to introduce herself as well, but instead she turned to Mikleo and poked at his shin with an umbrella that he hadn’t noticed she was holding.  “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Not when you’re perfectly capable of introducing yourself.”

“It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

Mikleo sighed in a way that said this was not the first time they had this conversation.  His tone when he spoke said that he wasn’t too annoyed with her, though.  “Sorey, this is Edna.”

She gave a satisfied nod, and switched her umbrella to the other hand so that she could give a handshake as well.  For the second time that day, Sorey found himself under the impression that he was being inspected.  “Sorey, huh?”

It seemed like there was more of that thought to come, but before she could say anything, Mikleo cut her off.  “So, you know how you owe me one?”  He pinned her under an intense stare.  Frankly, it was a bit scary, but she was not phased.

“Of course.  I gave my word, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.  I am calling in that favor now.  I don’t want you making up any strange nicknames for Sorey, or for the two of us.”

Edna looked affronted.  “Why, I would never do something like that!  It’s just not dignified, or ladylike.  Right Meebo?”  By the time she finished speaking, her grin had shifted to something that could only be described as ‘shit-eating.’

Mikleo groaned and hid his face in his hands.

“You know, why didn’t you just ask her to stop calling you that?” Rose piped up.

“Because I know she’d never go for it,” he said, voice still muffled by his hand.  “Better to cut her off before she starts.”

“Truly, I wouldn’t.  Meebo just rolls off the tongue so nicely.  Besides, even if I did, a Meebo by any other name is still a Meebo.”

“Don’t mangle idioms like that.  What did they ever do to you?”

“More than you’ll ever know, Meebo.  More than you’ll ever know.”

“Alright!” Lailah stepped into the conversation with a little clap of her hands.  “We’ve only got two pool cues, so we’ll have to do teams, and pass off.  Now, how do we want to split up?”

“I think maybe Meebo and Sorey should face off first, one-on-one.  Get the chance to size each other up.”  From the way Mikleo was glaring at her, Sorey got the feeling that Edna was implying a few things beyond pool.

However, he was willing to give her statement the benefit of the doubt.  “Alright, sounds like fun.”

“Sorey, are you sure,” Lailah asked hesitantly.

“If the man wants to do it, let him do it.  It will be fine,” Rose said with a flip of her hand, as if she could physically brush off Lailah’s concerns.  “Besides, you never know.  What if he’s a protégé?  He might even be the pool-playing hero we have been waiting for.”

“I just doing think it’s nice of us to throw him out there on his own like that.”

“You know what, how about we have a bet?  Three cookies says he can unseat our reigning champ, here.”

Cookies must have been the magic word, because suddenly Lailah stood straighter and put her hands together in a little clap.  “Yes, they should totally play each other.”

“Now that’s the spirit!”

Sorey had been too busy watching their exchange to notice that Mikleo had sidled up close to him.  He nearly jumped when he said in his ear, “Sorry about them.”

He reached up to fiddle with one earring and gave a small laugh.  As they looked on, Edna was just throwing in her own cookie bets, on Mikleo beating him without Sorey ever scoring a single shot.  Wagers made, the girls retreated to the tall chairs around the table to watch the spectacle unfold.  “I suppose it’s a bit weird to watch them betting on me like that, but everyone looks like they’re having fun.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, then?  I’m not going to go easy on you,” Mikleo said with confidence, and he was wearing that mischievous, competitive smile again.  Which really, he shouldn’t do, because cheating isn’t fair.  How was Sorey supposed to concentrate like that?

Although, his own competitive side was more than willing to rear its head.  “Oh, there is no way I’m backing out of a challenge that easily.  Are you scared?” he said, completely ignoring the fact that he only vaguely knew what he was supposed to be doing.

This time, Mikleo swung around to face him and jabbed one finger at his chest.  “It is so on.  Are you ready to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter?”

“Not if I kick yours first.’

“Would you like to break, then?  I’m sure you’ll need every advantage you can get.”

Sorey swiped up a pool cue and stalked over to the table, but he was smiling the whole time.  He honestly didn’t care so much who won; the banter was fun enough.  The group fell silent as he leaned over the table and lined up his cue with the cue ball.  Resting the cue across the fingers of his left hand did feel somewhat awkward.  It was a good reminder of his inexperience.  He brushed it off with a reassurance that it couldn’t be all that hard, and he had a big target; it would probably take more skill to miss the cluster of balls than to hit it.

With that thought, he jabbed the cue forward into the ball.  It ran into the rest with a satisfying clatter, and sent them darting around the table.  One even dropped into a pocket.  Sorey whooped and swung around to face Mikleo again.  “Ha!  Would you look at that.”

Rose joined in the exclamations, as Edna grumbled.  “I’m doubling down,” she told Lailah.  “Three more cookies.”

“Very nice,” Mikleo said, with only a touch of sarcasm, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  His confidence did not seem to waver.  “Looks like you’re solids.  Although, are you sure it wasn’t just beginners luck?”

Sorey scoffed.  “No way.”  Then he turned back to the table.  ‘Yes way,’ his brain immediately supplied for him.  Now that there wasn’t one, big, concentrated target, his confidence was dropping fast.  He paced around the table with a hand on his chin, sizing up his options.  Nothing looked all that good to him, but he eventually decided on the three ball, what was at least close to a corner pocket, if a bit off-center.  He lined up his cue again, which was much harder than the first time since he had to stand at a slight angle to the pool table, and lean further over to get at the cue ball.  This time, when he tapped it, it rolled forward at an angle.  Thankfully, it hit the intended ball, but to the side, which sent it skittering against the edge of the pocket and back out onto the table, where it came to a stop snugly against the side.

There was an amused noise behind him, and Sorey fought the urge to stick out his tongue at Mikleo.  He wasn’t eight anymore. 

However, he was much less able to ignore the urge to watch appreciatively as Mikleo made his way over to the table in a way which could only be described as a ‘saunter.’  Once there, he didn’t take long to look over his options before he lined up his shot and hit the twelve off of the side of the table and into the middle pocket.  He backed up with a satisfied look on his face and brought his cue down to rest on the top of his shoe.  “Your turn.”

Sorey promptly forgot all of the reasons why he should be annoyed with Mikleo for being so smug.  The whole process was so quick, and accurate.  “Wow, that was awesome!  And don’t you get another shot for scoring?”

“Nah, I play with handicaps.  It’s only fair.”

“Alright then,” Sorey said, and approached the table again.  It became apparent rapidly that things were not going well for him.  He scratched twice, sent the cue ball off of the table once, and even scored a point for Mikleo.  That one was at least a ball in a pocket, so he was considering it a small victory.  All throughout, Mikleo put a ball away on each of his turns, looking calm, professional, and maybe just a bit too attractive as he leaned over to eye up his shots.  By the time he sank the eight ball without Sorey ever scoring another point, he wondered if perhaps he should have just let Mikleo keep going and win right away.  You wouldn’t have been able to ogle him, though, his brain helpfully supplied.

“That’s that,” Mikleo proclaimed, and made his way back over to where Sorey had been leaning against the table next to the girls.  “Do I get a prize?”

He looked so adorable staring up the small height difference between them, eyes alight with enjoyment and pride, that Sorey promptly forgot anything which could have been a reasonable prize.  It didn’t help that behind him, he could hear Lailah say a quiet, “oh my.” 

He blushed, and searched his brain for an idea.  “Um, I’ll give you the rest of the gummy boars?”

Mikleo blinked twice before his mouth curved into a smile.  “That’s not what I was expecting, but it sounds like an excellent prize.  And then, this is for you, for being a good sport.  I’m kind of an insufferable player.”  He leaned up to kiss Sorey on the cheek, much like after that first, sort-of-fake date.  Well, that answered his questions about PDA.

“Ah, oh, thanks,” Sorey stammered.  “Now I’m feeling like gummy boars aren’t a very good prize.”

“I think it’s cute, don’t worry.”  He paused for a second, and then commented, “Don’t you three have bets to settle?”

Sorey turned his head to the side so he could see the rest of the group, and found himself meeting three intent stares.  He took a step to the left and away from Lailah, who had leaned uncomfortably close.  She didn’t seem to mind though, because as soon as Mikleo spoke, she rounded on the other two, and said, “Cough up, ladies!”

Edna and Rose groaned, and began fishing for their student ID cards so that she could buy her treats from the campus convenience store.  For Rose, this entailed reaching into her pocket.  Edna popped open her umbrella, which confused Sorey to no end, until she opened a small pocket sewn on the inside to pull out her own card.  Who in the world had a pocket for cards on the inside of an umbrella?

“Alright, six cookies with mine, three from Edna’s,” Rose warned, “No more.  I will know.  After last time, I was sure to check my balance before coming today.”

“Sure, sure,” Lailah reassured, snatching up the offered cards.  With the same breath, she turned back to Mikleo and Sorey, and said, “Anything for you two?  Their treat.”  She laughed as she bounced up out of her chair, narrowly avoiding a jab from Edna’s umbrella, and making her way toward the door.  “I’m kidding!  I’ll be right back.”

“So,” Mikleo began once Lailah was gone, “it seems like you had a good handle on how much power you need behind each shot, but your aim is abysmal.  Would you like me to show you?”

“Oh, that would be great!  Thank you.”  Sorey picked up one of the cues and rubbed more chalk on the tip while Mikleo made his way to the table and started pulling balls from the pockets.

“Rose, Edna, come play against us?”

“Nuh uh, Meebo.  You’re going to win, and then you won’t let me forget it for a week.”

“Oh come on, you won’t really be playing me.  Besides, some proper motivation will do Sorey good.”

Rose gave a long-suffering sigh and stood from her chair.  “I think we’ll live.  Let’s go, Edna.”

Edna ended up breaking.  Both girls asserted that while they weren’t directly playing Mikleo, it was close enough to grant them that small mercy.  It was a good break, but not one that sunk any balls, which left Sorey his pick of the field.  Or Mikleo, really, who circled the table with a hand on his chin.

“How about we start with something fun?” he said, and gestured for Sorey to join him.  He was staring down the seven ball, which was not remotely lined up with any pockets.  “Boost your confidence a little.”

Rose scoffed from where she was waiting for her turn off to the side.  “More like show off in front of your boyfriend.”

Sorey could feel the heat in his cheeks, and a quick glance at Mikleo confirmed that he was blushing too.  They hadn’t had any official conversations about what to call themselves, but Sorey didn’t particularly want to refute that statement.  Mikleo stayed silent on the matter as well.  Did that mean that he considered them boyfriends?  They would have to talk about it at some point, but just the implications made Sorey feel a little giddy.

It must have shown on his face, because a moment later, Edna scoffed and said, “Oh gross.  Now look what you’ve done, Rose.”

Mikleo cleared his throat loudly, bringing attention back to the game rather than their relationship.  It satisfied Sorey to see that he was still a little red, and the inklings of a sweet smile were still hanging around the corners of his lips.  “So, this seven ball.  We’re going to put it in the bottom right corner pocket.”

“No way, I can never make that shot.  It would have to bounce off of the edge of the table and back!”

“Exactly.  Now that part’s not too hard.  It’s all geometry.  All that stuff you thought you’d never need to know about how an object bouncing off of a flat plane refracts at the same angle it hit.  Now, line up your cue with the cue ball, and I’ll help from there.”

It did sound slightly less intimidating when Mikleo put it in math terms.  Math he understood.  Better than he understood pool, at least.  With that in mind, he bent down to sight along the pool cue, trying to imagine the angle he’d need to send the ball into the correct pocket.  He felt more than he saw Mikleo come to stand next to him, and then a hand came to rest over his own.  It was a shade lighter and just a bit smaller than his own, although Mikleo’s fingers were almost long enough to make up for the size difference.  He reminded himself that he was supposed to be playing pool, not admiring how their hands looked together.  They looked good, though.

A whistle from off to the side brought him back to himself.  That’s right, the others were expecting that he would make a decent shot.  He sighted down the cue again, so that he could watch as Mikleo minutely adjusted the positioning.

“This is a bit harder from the right, but I think that should do it,” he finally said, his breath warm across Sorey’s ear.  “I’ll leave the rest up to you.  Although, don’t forget to follow through.  Follow through is very important.”

Sorey fought the urge to roll his eyes at the statement he’d heard from just about every gym teacher throughout his academic career, but he filed away the information anyway.  He took a deep breath, and jabbed the cue forward.  The cue ball rolled across the table and hit the seven with a clack, and sent it against the far side of the table.  It ricocheted at just the right angle, and with just enough speed to bring it rolling up to the edge of the assigned pocket, and then over the edge.

Sorey straightened up, the tension he hadn’t realized had been pulling across his shoulders draining away in the name of excitement.  “We did it, we did it!  Yes!” He exclaimed, and swept Mikleo up and twirled them about in a circle, completely forgetting about the pool cue still in his hand.

“Watch out, you’re going to hurt someone with that.  Although yes, you did.  It was a good shot.”

“No, we did.  I seriously couldn’t have pulled off something like that without you.”  Sorey’s heart was still pounding with a mix of excitement, pride, and Mikleo’s proximity.  This was the kind of feeling that usually led him to do things that got him called cheesy, and this time was no exception.  He leaned forward to press their foreheads together while leaving his arms wrapped around Mikleo’s waist.  He knew he was wearing one of his goofier grins, and there was definitely a small laugh bubbling up from his chest.  And Mikleo looked proud of the both of them and amused at his antics, rather than uncomfortable with the situation.

That is, he did until there was another whistle.  Then Mikleo was turning red, and pulling away lightly in favor of turning to glare at both Rose and Edna.  This was the necessary impetus for Sorey to put together the fact that maybe the whistle from before hadn’t been in encouragement, but maybe more because of the position they had been in.  Oh man, that could have looked really suggestive out of context.  And now he was blushing to match.

It was at this point Lailah returned, arms laden down with nine cookies in all different types.  She took one look at the group, and raised a free hand to cover her mouth, as if to prevent the small laughs bubbling up from escaping.  The other girls joined in, and before long Sorey found himself laughing along as well.  It was too infectious to ignore the urge.

It was a few minutes before everyone calmed down enough to resume the game, while Lailah plopped down at the table to watch and eat her snacks.  Sorey was slightly worried about her ability to consume nine cookies without making herself sick.  However, when he expressed this concern, she informed him very sweetly that she was more than capable, and that there would be consequences if he tried to steal any.

For the rest of the two-on-two match, Mikleo was restricted to only helping Sorey every other turn.  That evened things out decently well, but they still won in the end.  After that, he was relegated to the table for the next few matches while Lailah and Sorey played Edna and Rose, and then began the one-on-one matches.  Everyone seemed to want an individual match with Sorey, to see where he would fall in their skill lineup.  Whenever he wasn’t being challenged, he would join Mikleo at the tall table and trace patterns on the back of his hand while they made commentary.  At some point, Edna disappeared without a word and returned with an extra large cheese pizza, which looked almost bigger than her; it was met with much enthusiasm, but did not bring a halt to the play.  Eventually, they even had a four-on-one match, with everyone against Mikleo; it nearly worked, but he still beat them to the eight ball.

Rose was the one to break up the gathering at nearly 8:30 because she and some of her business program buddies were going out for drinks.  She made the offer to the rest of the group to join, but Edna cut in immediately with, “After last time?  No way.”

Sorey leaned close to Mikleo so he could whisper, “What happened last time?”

“Some guy hit on her.  She didn’t like that.”

“What did she do?”

“She hit back.  Physically.  With the umbrella.”

Sorey winced.  While Mikleo’s friends did seem like they would be a fun group to drink with, he didn’t fancy being anywhere near Edna when she got violent.  Plus, he still felt a little run down from midterms week.  “As entertaining as that sounds, I might have to pass for this evening.  Thank you for the offer, though,” he added politely.

“I’m feeling the same,” Mikleo said, and stood from his seat “We’ll see all of you later.”  He looked back at Sorey, who stood as well.  There were no questions in his mind that they would be leaving together.

“It was nice to meet everyone!”  He waved goodbye, and followed Mikleo as he left the lounge.

As they started to make their way back to the dorms, Mikleo asked, “Did you have a good time?” There was another question in his eyes too, and just a bit of nervousness.

“I did!  It was really fun, and all of your friends were great, too.”

Mikleo sighed with relief and his posture relaxed.  “Well, that’s good to hear.  If you didn’t like my friends, it would be a lot harder to try to keep you around.”

“You’re trying to keep me around, huh?”

“Well, yeah.  Cute, willing to let me kick his butt at pool, and an ancient history nerd?  Where else am I going to find that?”

Sorey ducked his head and fiddled with his earring, sheepish in the face of the compliment.  But there was a big smile growing across his face.  “I’d like to keep you around, too.”

“That’s settled then,” Mikleo said, and when Sorey raised his eyes to look, he was wearing a smile too.  He reached up a hand to turn Sorey’s face toward him for a quick kiss.  Then he let that same hand fall in order to twine their fingers together; it felt and looked just as good as Sorey had imagined.  “Now, if I’m not mistaken, there is still half of a documentary on the Pendrago Shrinechurch waiting for us back in my room.  What do you think?”

“Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s be real, at least half of this thing is me romanticizing small liberal arts colleges because I recently graduated from one, and man, I wish graduating and leaving were not things you have to do.


	4. Study Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finals time means all-nighter study dates, and perhaps an ounce or two of distraction along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine - sleepy Mik
> 
> Also, much thanks to the lovely [Kokoai](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokoai/pseuds/Kokoai) for beta-ing!!

If anyone were to ask, Mikleo could say with confidence that three AM was not his favorite hour.  He had visited it before, on a drunken evening or two over the past year with Rose and Lailah, but those were the kinds of visits where one didn’t get the chance to get to know the hour, barely even noticed its passing.  Thus, he did not consider himself and three AM to be friends, or bosom buddies, or any other term of endearment.  And yet, here he was, staring at the lit numbers on Sorey’s microwave, and he could swear it had taken a solid ten minutes to move from 3:00 to 3:01.

The reason Mikleo was awake at three AM and occupying his time by watching the clock tick by sat hunched on the other side of the coffee table from him, firmly buried in a textbook.  He didn’t even look up when Mikleo leaned back against the base of the couch and muttered under his breath, “‘Let’s pull a voluntary all-nighter during our finals study days,’ he said, ‘we’ll get so much done,’ he said.  Lies.”

Nope, Sorey didn’t even twitch, aside from the motion of his hand as he copied down notes for his Ancient Tongue final.  Mikleo hadn’t expected that.  ‘Energetic’ was certainly amongst the first words that came to mind when thinking about Sorey, but it turns out he was just plain good at directing that energy.  That came at the price of tuning out the rest of the world, and an apparent inability to keep track of writing utensils.  In addition to the pencil in his hands, he had one tucked behind his ear just above the frame of his glasses, and one held lightly between his teeth.  These two others had migrated over the course of the night, and been promptly forgotten.

Mikleo wondered what would happen if he stole one.  Would Sorey even notice?  What if he used his teeth to steal the one right out of Sorey’s mouth?  What if he kissed him, used his own lips to take it away, and wow it was really a strange time of night.  Three AM brain Mikleo seemed to think it was a good idea, but he knew that waking brain Mikleo probably wouldn’t go for it, so he held off for now.

He glanced back at his laptop screen.  There sat five pages and an outline for what was supposed to be an eight to ten page paper on the ritual practices of the early peoples of Hexen Isle.  Proof that despite his grumbling, he really had been productive up until a few minutes ago.  If he got back to work, he could probably knock the rest of it out in an hour or two.  Stealing a pencil from Sorey still sounded much more interesting.

True to his estimation, he didn’t notice when Mikleo plucked the pencil from his fingers, and then casually laid it by his laptop, as if it had been there all night.  He only realized when he turned from his textbook back to his notes.  A perplexed look crossed his face, and Mikleo was having a hard time keeping a neutral expression.

“Do you know where I put my pencil?”  He asked, somehow managing to talk around the one in his mouth without recognizing its existence.

“No idea.”

Sorey shrugged and grabbed his pencil bag from where it had been resting near his knee.  He opened it, and the look of confusion increased.  “Mikleo, could I borrow one?”

That was it.  Too much.  Mikleo started laughing.  “Maybe you should start with the one behind your ear.  Or the one in your mouth.  Or even the one I just stole.”  He held out the offending pencil as a peace offering.

Sorey snatched the pencil back with a glare and a, “hey!”  It was said with enough emotion that the one in his mouth tumbled out and into his lap, which did not help with Mikleo’s laughter.

He took a moment to pull it together in order to say, “I could use a break.  What about you?  I have no idea how you’ve kept it together so well.”  It was astounding, really, considering Mikleo was contemplating opening energy drink number two, while Sorey hadn’t even touched caffeine.  Instead, he seemed to be running on willpower alone.

“Ah, well,” he said, while one hand worked up to the back of his neck and his eyes darted to the side, “I stay up too late a lot.  But I could take a break, sure.  What did you have in mind?”

“Have you been to The Inn yet?”

“What, that all-night diner that everyone says is a dive?”

“That’s the one.  And it’s not quite that bad, but definitely essential experience for every Elysia student.  What do you think?”  Before Sorey even answered, Mikleo picked up his phone and opened his text messages.  Sorey wasn’t the only person he knew who was likely to be up at odd hours.  With any luck, Rose might give them a ride.  He typed her a quick message.

**From: Mikleo**

Do you want to go to The Inn for 3am milkshakes?”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Sorey replied at the same time as Rose messaged back.

**From: Rose**

Hell yes!

**From: Mikleo**

Great, can you drive us?

**From: Rose**

Yeah, I knew there was an ulterior motive.  Do you want to meet me in the lot in 10?

**From: Mikleo**

I’m at Sorey’s, actually.

**From: Rose**

Ohohoho

**From: Mikleo**

We’re STUDYING

**From: Rose**

Man, making me drive out to get you when there isn’t even anything fun going on?  Fine.  I’m bringing Dezel

**From: Mikleo**

Sure.  Text me when you’re here.

“Rose is going to come pick us up in a few minutes, and Dezel’s coming too.  You haven’t met him before, right?”  Sorey shook his head.  “He and Rose have known each other since Elementary School.  Quiet, but very obsessed with animals.  I think you’ll get along.”

“Alright, I won’t worry then.”  Sorey stood and stretched, long and languid.  “It’s probably good I got up.  I’ve been sitting too long.”

“Probably right.”  Mikleo wouldn’t say no to that view.  But then Sorey ruined it by starting to tap one foot frantically, as if it had fallen asleep.  Mikleo huffed an approximation of a laugh at all the wriggling and extricated himself from between the couch and the coffee table.  His essay was left to idle, with the cursor blinking forlornly.

Within a matter of minutes, they had bundled up in coats and scarves in preparation for the late November chill and stood by the door awaiting Rose’s text.  Mikleo had no warning as a set of arms snaked around him from behind.  That surprised squeak he made certainly never happened, but one hand came up to cover his mouth anyway.  Through all of their layers, he could only feel the pressure of Sorey holding him close to his chest, and none of the heat, but that didn’t stop the flush in his cheeks, either.

“What’s that for?” he asked, letting the hand over his mouth fall behind him to lightly swat at Sorey’s side.

Sorey rumbled a hum in his chest, and he felt that despite the coats.  “I just wanted to thank you for staying up with me, even though you look tired.”

“Well of course,” Mikleo replied casually.  He let himself lean further back into Sorey’s hold, since he didn’t seem to have intentions of moving any time soon.  And a little further after that.  He was lucky, really, to have such a comfortable boyfriend.  His eyes started drifting shut.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep on me.”

Mikleo hummed noncommittally.  He was totally going to fall asleep on him.

“If you fall asleep, you lose.”

“Since when is this a contest?”

“It wasn’t,” Sorey said, “Until you started falling asleep.  But now, if you can’t stay awake until sunrise, I win.”

“Fine,” he said and wriggled out of Sorey’s hold, with a glare for convincing him to stay up.  It was good motivation though, along with the buzz from his pocket heralding Rose’s text.  “They’re here, anyway.”

Sorey locked the door behind them as they left, and then it was two sets of stairs down and a scramble through the freezing cold to Rose’s car idling on the corner.  Dezel already occupied the front seat, so the two of them slid into the back, with no complaints.

“Alright love birds, keep it PG back there,” Rose remarked as she pulled away from the curb.

“What, not even a hello first?” Mikleo said.  He could feel Sorey’s fingers slide around his own, and he shot him a look with one raised eyebrow.  It was met by a self-satisfied grin, despite the fact that the action was nowhere near raunchy.

“I haven’t heard a thank you yet for picking you up, either.”

Mikleo sighed and said, “thank you,” at the same time as Sorey did, resulting in a mini-chorus.

“Hi guys!  You’re very welcome.  Also, Sorey, this is Dezel,” she waved one hand in his direction before placing it back on the wheel.

“Nice to meet you, Dezel!”

“Same,” he grunted, and then offered nothing else.

Sorey looked over again, a question in his eyes.  Mikleo gave a shrug that hopefully conveyed that he was just not very talkative.  He seemed to accept whatever he got from that motion.  They were silent for a moment as they watched the street lights roll by, and the headlights of two other cars crazy enough to be out at this hour.  Then Sorey added, “I just thought of it, but will there be things for you to eat there?  All-night diners don’t strike me as very vegetarian-friendly.”

Rose snorted a laugh from the front, “What, you think we’re going to be healthy and order real meals?  No way.  This is strictly a milkshakes and fries run.  There is no convincing me otherwise.”

“You could get a meal if you want.  I’ll be fine in the milkshakes and fries camp, though,” Mikleo reassured.

“Nope.”

He sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.  “Rose, you can’t tell Sorey what to eat unless you’re buying it.”

She seemed to contemplate this offer for a moment, accompanied by the tick of the blinker as she turned into the diner’s parking lot.  “Alright, I’ll make an exception.  But only if he eats something really greasy.”

Sorey held up a placating hand even though Rose couldn’t see.  “It’s fine.  Milkshakes and fries sound great.”

“If you’re sure,” Mikleo said before stepping out of the car.  The world around them was strangely quiet, with barely even the whoosh of other cars to interrupt the silence.  The large, pink neon sign for the restaurant cast its light down on the snow that had been plowed into piles in a corner of the parking lot, lending it a surreal air.  He was quick to hurry around the side of the car and join the group as they pushed through the chrome-lined glass doors.

Inside, The Inn was a classic diner – complete with grungy linoleum floors, more pink neon, and retro metal paneling on the ceiling.  The kind of classic that was really that old, rather than a stylistic choice, and starting to show the age, in the cracking leather in the booths and the smell of soda and frying oil which by now must have seeped into the walls.

It took a moment for the half-asleep waitress to look up from the coffee she was clutching like a lifeline, and then bring them to a table just on the other side of the counter from the open kitchen.

“This place is so cool,” Sorey said as he slid into the booth, trailing his fingers across the Plexiglas top.  Enshrined underneath, like some strange museum to the effects of time on old college towns, were ads for businesses at least twenty years closed.  Mikleo slid in after him.

“Yeah, and they make damn good fries,” Rose said, settling in on the other side with Dezel, and making no moves to open her menu.  Mikleo knew she was here almost weekly, although usually not at these kinds of hours.  “So, Sorey,” she continued.  He glanced over the top of his menu to indicate that he was listening.  “Keeping our Meebo up all night?”

Mikleo narrowed his eyes and groused, “Do not call me that.  And I already told you, we’re studying.”

“Yeah, we’re doing an all-nighter.  Well, sort of.  The plan is to work until sunrise and then sleep until noon.”

“So you actually are just studying all night?  Can’t say it isn’t in character, but man you guys are no fun.”

“It doesn’t seem like you were out partying or anything,” Mikleo remarked, closing his menu as he spoke.

“Well, uh, fine.  I was studying too,” Rose sighed.  But then she perked up again.  “But if you’re staying up until dawn, does that mean you’re sleeping over?”

He flushed and looked to the side, consequently right at Sorey, who didn’t look as if he had minded the comment at all.  Innuendo was not his forte.

In the grand scheme of Deus ex Machina, Mikleo was not going to complain about having the waitress appear at that exact moment to take their order and spare him having to answer.  He was granted a few merciful moments as she listlessly scribbled their order on her pad.  A strawberries and cream milkshake for Rose along with a basket of fries to share, Mint brownie for Dezel, and chocolate for Mikleo.  Sorey had spent a long while surveying the menu and the array of interesting choices offered, and yet surprised no one when he ordered vanilla.  The waitress collected the menus and went to put in the ticket, leaving them alone once again.

“So,” Rose picked up as if the conversation had never been interrupted, “are you going to be the gentleman and sleep on the couch, then?”

Sorey, who managed to miss the ulterior motive on the question, said, “No, my bed is big enough to share.”

Rose rounded on Mikleo to give him a pointed look, even as she said, “It is, huh?”

He made an unflattering noise of surprise as he felt heat creeping across his face.  He treated Rose to a glare and Sorey a sharp elbow to the side, which resulted in a yelp. “Why do you have to be like this tonight?”

“Because it’s” she paused to check her watch, “Three nineteen AM!  Three nineteen AM practically demands pervyness!”

“It does not!” He exclaimed.  Sorey’s hand sought his on the seat between them and gave a gentle squeeze.

At the same time, Dezel gave a long-suffering sigh and a warning, “Rose.”

“Fine, fine, ruin my fun.”

Under the reassurance that she would, probably, leave them alone, and Sorey’s thumb stroking the back of his palm, Mikleo’s annoyance trickled away.  Left in its place was tiredness, and he was glad when the waitress arrived with their order; sugar was due.

Even as he picked up his spoon and set into the whipped cream on top of the shake, he could feel himself starting to droop to the side.  Sorey gave him a small, sweet smile as he came to rest against his shoulder, and then skillfully went to work distracting Rose and Dezel by asking about Dezel’s major and classes.  Between bites, he managed to tease out information bit by bit on his self-designed program in animal behavior in hopes of one day training service animals.  Mikleo couldn’t quite remember if he’d ever heard Dezel say so many words in one sitting, and it came to him then exactly what a wonderful person everyone at Ladylake University had managed to miss.

He snuggled a little closer to Sorey and gave the hand still held between them a squeeze in appreciation.  Sorey glanced at him, his green eyes mixing between curiosity and happiness.  Mikleo just shrugged, because he wasn’t sure he could voice those feelings, especially not with the others around.  He was content, though, and relaxed enough that his eyes threatened to slip closed again, even as he leaned forward for another sip of his milkshake.

“No falling asleep,” Sorey scolded.

Unfortunately, this also captured Rose and Dezel’s attention, which was far more effective at waking him up than the scold.  Dezel didn’t seem interested, which was not unusual, but Rose certainly was.  She leaned forward, at the same time grabbing a few fries and popping them in her mouth.  “Oh man, only think of the nicknames Edna would think up if she was here to see this.  Maybe I should take a picture?”

“That is not necessary,” Mikleo said, bristling, and scooted away on the bench.  He finally brought his hand away from Sorey’s and used both to clutch his milkshake glass like a shield.  With any luck, his expression and body language would convey to Rose that she should not do this, on pain of, well, some kind of pain; his brain was too fuzzy to think up a proper revenge at the moment.  But it would be bad.

“Yeah, seeing you bristle up like an angry prickle boar was probably fun enough.”

Mikleo groaned but decided it would be in his best interest to let the topic drop.  Instead, he turned his attention back to drinking his milkshake.

Everyone finished and paid not long after, and then tramped back out to Rose’s car.  He tried valiantly, he really did, to stay awake there.  But it was dark, with the gentle motion of the car and Sorey’s solid presence beside him.  A presence which was good about nudging his shoulder every time he started to droop.

By the time they said goodbye to Rose and Dezel and climbed the stairs to Sorey’s apartment, he was starting to feel more alert, though.  It could have been the bright lights, the sugar, or a combination of both.

They had a few moments of awkward scramble both trying to shed outer gear in the small entryway.  Sorey finished first, and collected a pillow from the couch to sit on before returning to his spot on the floor by the coffee table.  Mikleo expected him to get right back to work, given his earlier diligence, but he twisted to look at him instead.  As he made his way over, Sorey reached up to grab his wrist, and said, “I don’t think I want to get back to work just yet.”

Despite the fact that Mikleo felt like he probably could be productive at that point, he wouldn’t mind a few more moments of distraction.  “Did you have something in mind?” he asked.

Sorey tugged on his wrist just a bit.  “Come down here?”

Mikleo obliged.  He dropped to the floor and settled cross-legged between Sorey’s outstretched legs.  He was faced with bright eyes and a bright smile, and an idea of perhaps what Sorey was getting at.  “Is this what you had in mind?”  He leaned forward for a kiss.

Sorey hummed contentedly against his lips as an answer.  One hand came up to cup his cheek, and then slid into his hair to pull him closer.  Sorey was a soft, slow kisser.  He seemed unhurried, and content with even the simplest contact.  He was also not bad at it, for someone who had admitted that his kissing experience was limited.

Mikleo was usually the first to press his tongue lightly to Sorey’s lips, though, to trace them before bringing their tongues to meet.  He still tasted faintly of vanilla and salt from their late night snack.  Mikleo broke away after a moment to better situate himself across Sorey’s lap, so that he could curl his arms around his shoulders and play with the fine hairs at the nape of his neck.  The blush across Sorey’s cheeks darkened, and this time he was the one to press forward into another kiss.

Mikleo picked up where they left off.  He took his time to explore, taste after taste, only parting for small breaths.  He could feel the gentle contentment of it blooming against his heart and his lungs, and the way the corners of his mouth kept trying to twitch up despite their occupation.

The next time, Sorey was the one to pull back in earnest.  He turned his attention to kissing along Mikleo’s jawline, from under his ear back to his mouth.    Mikleo breathed out a heavy sigh at the sensation and curled his fingers the smallest bit.  Sorey seemed to like it by the way he murmured his name against the skin of his cheek.  It was a somewhat ticklish feeling, and Mikleo allowed himself a small laugh before turning his head for another full kiss.

Just one more, though.  They had spent enough time on distractions.  The next time he felt the need for a deeper breath creeping up, he let them part.  His hands smoothed down Sorey’s back until he let them drop, and then sat back.  Sorey’s hand uncurled from his hair as well.  He made a cute picture, with his pink face, pink lips and slightly glazed eyes.  It was almost tempting enough to go back for more kisses.  Mikleo shook his head and said, at least partially for his own benefit, “Okay, okay.  We’ve had our break.  And although we needed it, we should get back to work now.”

Sorey pouted, but then his face brightened again.  He reached out to tap Mikleo’s nose with a finger, and said, “Luzrov Rulay.”

Mikleo had been busy going cross-eyed to see the finger on his nose, but he looked back out to meet Sorey’s eyes.  He looked incredibly proud of himself.  It took a moment for Mikleo to piece together a translation, because he hadn’t taken any Ancient Tongue since last spring, but when he did, he shot him an incredulous glare and asked, “Did you seriously just call me ‘Mikleo the Enforcer?’”

“Yep!  It’s your new nickname.”

He used a hand to gently brush Sorey’s finger away and then put his palm to his forehead.  “Edna is bad enough.  Don’t you start too.”

“But I kind of like it.  ‘Luzrov Rulay.’”  Sorey’s voice dropped lower and full of implications.  He wasn’t talking about being a homework task master anymore.  Maybe it could have even been sexy if he hadn’t gone and followed it up with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.

“Oh no.  No.  No way.”

Sorey laughed, loud and raucous and a bit too long, the way laughter becomes after close to twenty-four waking hours.  Mikleo tried to keep it together.  He really did.  But before long, he was spilling out giggles that tumbled into full blown laughter, too.  Sorey rocked back onto the floor, and Mikleo dropped to join him, one hand coming to rest on Sorey’s chest, where he could feel the laughs rumbling.  For a little while, whenever they would fall silent, one or the other would let out a snort and then they would be off again.

When they managed to calm down for good, Mikleo still had a wide smile and giddy feelings swirling about in his chest.  It was difficult to find the line between the late night and infatuation, but he wasn’t going to try too hard.  His time would be better spent basking in the fact that he was stupidly happy.

But only for a moment, because they really should do some more work.  He gave Sorey’s chest a light pat and then pushed himself up.  “Come on, this time for real.”

“See, I told you – enforcer.”

“No.”

For all his teasing, Sorey slipped back into his studying again as soon as he laid eyes on his textbook.  Mikleo returned to his essay and made steady progress now that he’d gotten over that exhaustion wall.  Every once in awhile, when he found his mind straying or his head drifting lower, he would stand up to refill their water glasses, or share tidbits that he learned about his essay topic.  It worked well to keep Sorey from falling into a complete study trance, too.

He finished the last few sentences, after struggling for roughly half an hour with the concluding paragraph in between sneaking glances at the slowly lightening sky, around 6:30 am.  With only about twenty minutes left to sunrise, and a brain the consistency of mush, this seemed like a good enough sign to throw in the towel.  Any editing done now would be entirely ineffective, so it could wait until later.  He pulled out his earbud, and closed his laptop with a satisfying click.  As his music cut off, he could hear the birds beginning to chirp, despite the fact that the sky was still a deep blue-grey.

To kill time, he wandered into Sorey’s bedroom, where he’d stashed his overnight bag, in search of pajamas and a toothbrush.  Once changed and prepared to sleep, he shuffled back out to the main room, where Sorey was still diligently working.  He’d changed projects about two hours ago to an annotated bibliography for his Era of Asgard class, which meant the floor around him was a minefield of open books and article printouts.  Mikleo picked his way through, and then shifted a few so he could drop down behind Sorey and rest his head on his slightly slouched back.

Sorey jumped minutely, and made a small noise of surprise.  At this point though, Mikleo was too tired to do much more than huff out a single laugh and then readjust himself.

“You’re not tapping out on me with ten minutes left to go, are you?”

“No, just resting here.”

“That sounds like quitter’s talk.”

“Fine,” Mikleo grumbled and hauled himself up.  He made his way back around toward the couch, where he gathered a blanket over his shoulders and sat with an arm propped on his knee and his chin propped in his hand.  Then he met Sorey’s eyes.  “See, still awake.  Now get back to work.”

“Geez.  Enforcer.”

“Stop it.”

“Although looks like your motivation is long gone.”

“Yep.”

“Hmm, well perhaps I should pack up too, then.”  Sorey started gathering books and building them into an impressive stack on the table.  Mikleo just made a noncommittal noise and watched with drooping eyes until he was done.  Outside, the sky had worked its way to golden, dotted with deep pink clouds, all large and heavy with impending snow.  Sorey wrapped up his task and gave his piles a satisfied nod.

“Bed time?”

“Not quite yet.  Come on, we need a picture with the sunrise!”

Mikleo could feel his mouth drifting into a small, fond smile.  How Sorey could still have energy or desire to do cheesy things like take selfies at dawn he had no idea, but it was still cute.  He could let him have this cheesy moment.  The blanket came with him, though, as he hauled himself off the couch and walked over to the window, where Sorey was waiting with his phone already out.

The image that stared back at them showed two bedraggled, tired boys.  Not flattering in the slightest.  Mikleo found he didn’t mind though, and leaned together even a bit more.  Sorey shifted the camera angle for a moment, trying to capture at least some of the colors of the sunrise, even if the sun itself hadn’t crested the buildings in the background yet.  He snapped one, and then just before the next, leaned in to kiss Mikleo on the cheek, the same as Mikleo had done for him a few times.

Much to Mikleo’s satisfaction, he was too sleepy for blushing or surprise.  He let Sorey snap his picture, glad that he wouldn’t be immortalized as a blushing mess.  Just a regular mess.  Once Sorey lowered the camera, he stood to make his slow way toward the bedroom.  “I’m climbing into bed now,” he said, which certainly he would be more embarrassed about if he was more awake, since he’d never slept in Sorey’s bed before.  Right now, he didn’t care about much beyond hitting a mattress and fast.

Sorey chuckled, and said, “I’ll be there in a minute,” before heading to the bathroom to brush his own teeth.

True to his word, Mikleo clambered under Sorey’s dull-orange comforter, and let his eyes drift across the dim room as he waited for Sorey to join him.  Old books on a prefab shelf, maps and prints which probably were too valuable to be hanging on the walls with Command Strips, and a flourishing aloe plant by the bed.

“What do you think of Maotelus?” Sorey asked as he entered the room and caught the direction of Mikleo’s gaze.

“Maotelus?”

“Yep!” Sorey reached out a finger to stroke one of the aloe plant’s leaves.

“You named your plant after the Lord of all Seraphim?”

“Well, sure.  Aloe is healing, and having one in your room is supposed to help you sleep better.  Fits the legends, right?”

“It is very you.  I like it.  Now, turn out the lights so I can sleep,” Mikleo grumbled.  At least part of it was to cover the smallest trickle of nervousness.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept in the same bed with someone; probably with his mother when he was eight.

“Sure, sure,” Sorey said, far too cheerfully for their lack of sleep, and flicked the switch by the door.  In the small sliver of light that trickled under the thick curtains, he looked almost a bit shy too, and that helped Mikleo feel better.  “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” he whispered, as if the change in light merited a lower tone.  “Like Rose suggested, I could sleep on the couch.  It’s pretty comfortable, so I would be fine.”

“It’s alright.”

He nodded and lifted the blanket so he could climb under also.  The bed was full size, so it didn’t require being on top of each other like Mikleo’s tiny, dorm room twin would, but they were still very close.  If Mikleo moved his head an inch or two forward, their foreheads would rest together.  He decided that he should.

Sorey took a moment to look surprised, and flushed, and then a smile spread across his face.  His eyelids had fallen halfway closed, but he held Mikleo’s gaze as he asked, “Would it be okay if, uh, if I held you?”

Now it was Mikleo’s turn to blush.  “If you want, that would be alright, too.”

Sorey nodded, which he could feel against his forehead.  Then an arm looped around his back and pulled him in closer.  It was a sudden movement, and so Mikleo did not have time to situate himself.  He wound up with his arms scrunched up against his chest.

“This isn’t going to work.”

“Oh, sorry, we don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable,” Sorey said, and began to pull back his arm.

“No, no, I meant _this_ isn’t going to work,” Mikleo wiggled his trapped fingers against Sorey’s chest for emphasis.  He shifted so he would have enough space to roll over onto his other side.  Then he drew Sorey’s arm back over his waist.  “Much better.”

Sorey moved forward the last inch so that Mikleo could feel the warmth of him against his back.  His eyes slipped closed, a wonderful relief after so much waking, and he said, “Goodnight, Sorey.  Or good morning, perhaps.  But at any rate, I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Mikleo,” Sorey murmured into the back of his hair, and then squeezed him closer for only a moment.  It sounded like there were other words he meant to say, but he left them unspoken.  Instead, his breathing drifted into a light snore.  Mikleo smiled faintly, and fell away, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moral of this chapter is don't let me loose with a bunch of Zesty references to work into modern AU. What will result is cheese and bad jokes.
> 
> Also, one of my best friends and I did these every single term in college. That three AM wall is fucking real


	5. Holiday Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Mikleo isn't going back to his own home for the holidays, it would only make sense that he and Sorey spend their first Winter Solstice together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: throws game-accurate geography entirely out the window for my own purposes. It will probably only get worse from here.
> 
> Also, thank you all so much for your patience and continued interest in this! Have a long chapter as a treat.

“Lailah,” Mikleo muttered into his phone as he paced down the hallway and back, “what do I do?”  He was glad most of the other students went home for the holiday break; it was much more satisfying to pace out there rather than in his tiny room.

“I know you’re nervous,” came the caring voice down the line, “but everything will be just fine.”

“I know, I know.  But I’m meeting his grandfather, the man who raised him, for the _holidays_ , and I just…” he trailed off and put a hand over his mouth, trying to calm the anxious flutter in his stomach.

“It makes you worried anyway.  I get it.  It’s a milestone.”

“Yeah.”

“But has Sorey ever given you reason to believe this is something you need to be worried about?” Lailah asked.

Mikleo paused at the end of the hallway and then spun on his heel.  As soon as Sorey had heard that he would be spending the entire break on campus, because six weeks was too long away from his job, but airfare was too expensive to justify going home for only a few days over the Winter Solstice, he had made the offer.  As if it was the simplest thing, almost expected even, that if Mikleo wouldn’t be able to see his own family, that he would be welcome in Sorey’s home.

“Well, no, but… what if it’s awkward?  What if his grandfather doesn’t like me, or doesn’t approve?”

“Mikleo,” she said, and this time her voice sounded a bit stern, “You just said Sorey made it seem like you shouldn’t worry.  Now, I know it’s hard to help being somewhat anxious, but thinking of all the ways things could go wrong isn’t useful.  You’ll just work yourself up even more.”

“I suppose so.”

“Good.  And you can always talk to him about it when he gets there.  How long will it be?”

“About an hour.”

“So just distract yourself until then.  Have you packed?”

“Yes, mom,” Mikleo said with a roll of his eyes.  He could swear it was possible to sense Lailah’s annoyance through the phone.  “I’ll just watch TV or something until then.”

“See that you do,” she replied, her phrasing doing nothing to help with the ‘mom’ accusations.  “A Bright Solstice to you, Mikleo.”

“Bright Solstice to you, too, Lailah.”

He listened to the other side of the line click off before making his way back to his bedroom door, which he had left open.  Just to the side was a duffle bag.  He had debated bringing his backpack, but then there was the chance of his clothing for visiting the temple that night getting wrinkled and that just wouldn’t do.  On top of the bag were two small, wrapped parcels.  One contained simple frosted holiday cookies, his best attempt at a thank you gift for Sorey and his grandfather for their generosity.  He was confident enough in his baking skills that the cookies would be received well.  However, the other package, Sorey’s present, gave him even more nervous flutters.  He had been working on it for the last few days, and he hoped Sorey would like it.

Mikleo turned away from the presents, deciding that Lailah was probably right about working himself up more, and opened his laptop once he was situated on his bed.  Watching a cooking competition show would do well enough for passing the time.  It was the kind of thing he could get sucked into easily, without demanding much mental capacity.

In the end, it worked perhaps a bit too well.  He was too busy yelling at one of the final contenders through the screen for being unoriginal for making bread pudding to notice when he got a text.  When his phone started ringing, he flinched and his laptop tilted off to the side, thankfully toward the wall.

One scramble through his pockets later, Mikleo picked up to Sorey’s warm voice saying, “Hi babe, I’m here, outside your dorm.”

He could feel his cheeks heat, both from the pet name and in realizing he must have missed the text.  “Ah, sorry, sorry, I’ll be down in a second.  Have you been waiting long?”

“Don’t worry, you’re fine.  I’ll see you in a minute.”

Mikleo shrugged on his coat, shut off his laptop and stuffed it in his bag.  He scooped the bag up in one hand and the presents in the other.  After he locked his door, he took the steps down two at a time to where Sorey waited.  Through the window, he could see that his big grin was only half-visible above the scarf that covered the lower portion of his face against the cold.

“Mikleo, I missed you!” Sorey said and pulled him into a hug as soon as he walked out the door.

“Hey!  Watch out or you’ll crush your presents.  And you came down to visit just two weeks ago.”  And, every day that they hadn’t seen each other, they had stayed up on phone calls and video calls far later than was probably reasonable with his hours at work.  Despite his protests, Mikleo squished his face into the faux fur collar of Sorey’s winter coat and said, “I missed you, too.”

“Hmm, cute,” Sorey murmured in his ear.

Mikleo took a quick step back and crossed his arms, bag swinging.  “I am not.  Now, can we go?  It’s cold out here.”

“Whatever you say.”

They started towards where Sorey’s car was parked in the lot.  It was his grandfather’s car in truth, an old, dark blue sedan, which looked good for its age aside from the scratch shaped like a lightning bolt in the driver’s door.  Much to Mikleo’s relief, it was also still warm inside.  He slid his bag under his feet and settled the packages on top.

“Presents, huh?” Sorey said as he shut his door and started the car.  There was curiosity, and maybe just a bit of begging in his tone.

“One is just some spice cookies for you and your grandfather as thanks.  The other, you will have to wait for tomorrow to open.”

“Does that mean I can have the spice cookies now?”

“No.”

“Mikleo!” Sorey whined and pouted.  He did have a good pout but Mikleo had better resolve than that.

“No.  You’ll just eat all of them.”

“What if you give me just one?  Please, babe?”

So much for Mikleo’s resolve.  “Fine.  Just one.”  He undid the tie on the mesh bag he’d wrapped the cookies in, and then tied it back up as soon as he’d pulled one out.  They were shaped like stars and sunbursts, traditional for the Solstice, and frosted with a light yellow lemon glaze.  He handed it over and brought his fingers to his lips while he waited for Sorey’s reaction.

Sorey glanced over for a second as he pulled out onto the main road one-handed.  “You do that every time you’re waiting for me to taste your food.  It’s cute.”

“Urgh, stop it.”

“Would you prefer if I called you handsome?  Or beautiful?”

Thankfully, Sorey’s eyes were still on the road as Mikleo flushed and turned his face towards the window.  It made his chest feel warm to hear these things, but it was still embarrassing.  “I doubt you’ll listen if I say not to,” he mumbled out in the direction of the passing town.

“Mikleo,” Sorey said, suddenly serious, “If it’s something that truly bothers you, I will stop.”

“I-it doesn’t bother me that much.”

“Okay, good!”

Mikleo looked back as they pulled up to a stoplight, to see Sorey bring the cookie to his mouth and take a bite.  Now that the behavior had been pointed out, he noticed his fingers drifting back towards his lips and stopped himself.

“I doubt I’m ever going to stop complimenting your cooking, though,” Sorey said, through his bite of cookie.  “This is so good!”

A smile curled up the corners of Mikleo’s lips and his shoulders straightened under the honest praise.  “Well, thank you.  But don’t think you’re going to weasel another one out of me like that.”

“Aw, really?  That’s alright.”

Sorey turned back to his driving, and Mikleo back to gazing out the window.  Now that Sorey was happily munching on his cookie, the sound of classic rock playing quietly from the radio was the only noise in the car, and that wasn’t quite enough to distract from his anxieties.  Lailah had probably been right; he should just talk about it rather than letting himself stew.

“Sorey,” he started, and then paused.  Sorey made a noise of acknowledgement to indicate he was listening.  Mikleo took a deep breath and continued.  “I’m nervous.”

“Nervous?  What about?”

“Meeting your grandfather.  What if it’s awkward, or if he doesn’t like me?”

“Oh, well you don’t need to worry about if Gramps will like you!  I’ve told him all about you.”

Mikleo turned back from the window and raised an eyebrow.  “I don’t know if that’s supposed to be reassuring.”  He did feel somewhat reassured, thought, hearing it from Sorey’s mouth.

“Come on, I wouldn’t say anything bad!  Besides, after all of the trouble I had last year, I think he’s just happy I’ve found someone like you.”  He took one hand off the wheel and held it out as an offering.

“Oh,” Mikleo mumbled, and flushed.  He did take Sorey’s hand, and squeezed it to convey his thanks.

Sorey’s mouth pulled up into a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes, before drawing his hand away to take the wheel again.  “It will be awkward, though, mostly for me.  I got stuck in a lot of places in the Mabinogio Ruins as a kid, and now Gramps has a full photo album of it, as evidence of his ‘idiot grandson.’”

“That, I will have to see.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I most certainly would.”

“I’m beginning to regret inviting you over after all,” Sorey mumbled in the direction of his windshield, but nothing in his facial expression matched his words.

“Too late now.  You’ve already eaten one of the cookies, so you can’t back out.”

“No, I guess I can’t. And if I did, I’d miss out on spending our first Winter Solstice together.”

Mikleo was blushing again, but he let it go without comment.  Once again, there was nothing left to fill the silences in the car but the radio, but this time it was comfortable.  Mikleo found himself relaxing back into the seat, and contemplating a nap.  He had been too nervous to sleep well the night before.

As if he had read Mikleo’s mind, Sorey mentioned, “You can sleep if you want, I’ll wake you up when we get close to the mountains.  You’ve never seen them up close before, have you?”

“Only from airplanes, or in pictures.  I doubt that really compares.”

“No, it doesn’t.  You’ll love them.  But for now, rest, okay?”

“Well, if you insist.”  Mikleo let his eyes drift closed.  As he was falling asleep, he could swear he heard Sorey start singing softly to the radio.

He woke some time later to a hand on his shoulder, and Sorey saying, “We’re getting close.”

Mikleo shifted up in his seat from where he’d slid down slightly as he slept, and tried his best to stretch.  It was not easy given the space, and the need to not whack the driver in the head or obscure his view of the road.  Once he’d worked his shoulders out to the best of his abilities, he turned his attention to the view out the window.

It was _beautiful_.

Extending in all directions in front of them were peaks, still far enough away that he could see several of them at once, all purple and green and dusted with snow.  Mikleo breathed out a breath he hadn’t quite realized he was holding and leaned forward in his seat.  He stretched as far forward as he could before the seatbelt locked up, and started unashamedly.  There were some hills around the college, but nothing near to this.

“What do you think?” Sorey asked, voice rife with curiosity and excitement.

“This is so cool!”

“I’m glad you like it.  Before leaving for college, I’d pretty much spent my whole life ‘with my head in the clouds’ up in Camlann, like Gramps likes to say, so the mountains mean a lot to me.”

Mikleo nodded, which he couldn’t be certain Sorey had seen, and continued watching as they approached.  Just as they were hitting the foothills, he was struck by the sheer size of it all.  When they were further away before, he could tell that the mountains were tall, yes, and a pretty image, but he hadn’t quite counted on the way they would loom once the car was in their shadow.  And even then, he had a feeling that these were small peaks.

The next thing worth noticing was that his ears were bothering him, much the same as they would fill up with pressure on an airplane.  This wasn’t quite such a sudden or violent pressure, but more persistent.  He stretched his mouth into a wide yawn to pop them, and Sorey mentioned, “There should be a pack of gum in the center console.”

“Hmm, thanks.”  Mikleo reached to the side and felt around blindly for a moment before grabbing the gum and sticking a piece in his mouth.  All the while, he kept his eyes out the window, where the road began to curve around the edges of the foothills, following the natural dips in the land between the first of the mountains.

There was snow up here, although not as much as he had expected.  The north sides of the mountains lay under a soft, full sheet, and in some places it had drifted up into larger piles with sheer edges.  Pines and other evergreens were just a peek of green under their dusting, while skeletal, bare-branched aspens almost disappeared into the landscape.  The southern slopes, on the other side of the road, were a different story.  Here, the snow covering was inconsistent, and in places the rocks and ground were exposed underneath.  It created stark patterns with harsh lines in white and black and grey.  Mikleo’s eyes would probably get tired from the glare from the small amount of sunlight seeping through the clouds if he stared at it too long, but he didn’t care too much.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, his breath fogging against the glass.

“Yes, you are,” Sorey said from behind him.

Mikleo started; he didn’t think he had spoken loud enough for Sorey to hear.  Then he turned away from the wonderful scenery so he could glare.  “Ugh that was so sappy.  Worst cliché line in the book.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“You could at least show a little remorse.”

“Nope.  I bet if we dressed you up right, you would look like a snow prince, with the mountains as your domain and beautiful halls carved in ice and frost.”

“Stop that,” Mikleo said.  He was able to feel the heat in his cheeks as he brought up a hand to hide his blush.

In spite of the protest, Sorey kept going.  His voice was starting to sound distinctly dreamy, and his own cheeks were a light pink but he didn’t seem to care.  “You could wear a white cloak trimmed in soft fur, and a crown of silver and sapphires.”

Mikleo was tempted to slap a hand over Sorey’s mouth to stop the outpouring of this ridiculousness, but it would probably interfere with his driving.  That would be especially bad, as the road curved and climbed, with only the cement highway dividers separating them from the small river it followed.  Instead, he said, “D-don’t imagine strange things!”

Sorey pouted.  “I think it would be cool.”

“No, most definitely not.  Besides, I don’t need a crown in silver and sapphires.  I already have a circlet.”

“You have a circlet?” Sorey asked, confusion in his voice and on his brow.

Mikleo sighed and shifted in his seat.  He knew this was not a common thing for people to own.  “You know how I mentioned that my mother is a jeweler?  She made it for me.  She’s got one just like it, although that one’s an old family heirloom.  I really only wear it for special occasions, like for temple tonight.”  He leaned down to unzip one of the side pockets on his bag and brought it out.  He turned it over in his hands, feeling the curve of the ends, and running his finger over the delicate setting for the jewel in the center.

Sorey glanced over for a moment before turning his attention back to the road.  “It’s lovely.  I want to see it on!”

“You’ll see it later, for temple.”

“Aww, Mikleo.”

“Impatient,” Mikleo said, with a shake of his head.  But he brought the circlet up to his forehead and brushed back his bangs so he could fix it in place.  He kept them held back, so the circlet was still visible.  “There, are you happy.”

Sorey looked over, and instead of turning immediately back to the road like he had before, he kept looking, for one beat and then another.  His face had flushed all the way up to the ears, and the dreamy expression was back.  “Very,” he stuttered.

“Eyes on the road!” Mikleo exclaimed, voice rising in pitch as they started to drift out of their lane.  Thankfully, the road was rather devoid of other cars, but that didn’t stop his heart rate from climbing.

Sorey corrected the wheel, and murmured an apology.

Mikleo put a hand to his chest. “I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me, one day.”

“In a good way?” Sorey asked, a sly lilt in his voice.

“Oh, absolutely not.”

For the rest of the drive, they chatted in small bursts but were silent for the most part, Mikleo’s focus primarily saved for their surroundings.  It would be such a shame to miss the shapes in the craggy outcroppings here, or the tiniest glimpse of a half-frozen waterfall there, with only the lightest trickle of water still falling from underneath a cap of ice which looked more like it had flowed there rather than frozen.  They passed a lake in a wide valley, with the edges frozen over and dusted with snow, before turning off the highway onto a smaller road and starting to climb again.

“It’s a good thing there’s only been light snow this year,” Sorey remarked, as they made their way around the switchbacks.  “The town keeps the road clear, but it can be a real challenge in heavier years.”

“I can see how that would happen,” Mikleo said, suddenly far less interested in watching outside the car.  The way the wheels seemed to cling to the edges of the road on the tight curves made him nervous.  He had no idea and no desire to find out if the road would even be wide enough to accommodate two cars passing each other on the way up and down.

 “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

“Nothing of the sort!” Mikleo hurried to reply, to a chorus of Sorey’s laughter.

“It’s alright, I’ll keep you safe.”  Sorey seemed far too delighted to have this task.

At the top of the pass, where the road finally flattened out, were two signs one right on top of the other.  The top read “Camlann, pop. 734” and below it was a sign declaring that the Mabinogio Temple Ruins were a part of the National Parks system, and a protected historical landmark.

“Will we be able to see Mabinogio?” Mikleo asked, not even bothering to disguise the excitement in his voice.  One of the perks of dating Sorey was that he would totally understand any excess excitement over ruins, archeology, or other historical interests.

“Ah, no, I’m sorry,” Sorey said, and glanced over just as Mikleo felt his face visibly fall.  “The stairs down and the ledges along the cliff are too hazardous if there’s any kind of ice at all.  It’s strictly closed in the winter.”

“I see,” he acknowledged and glanced out the window for a second to see the tiny town passing by.

“Gramps had a time of it keeping me out during the winter as a kid, but I’m glad now.  Some of those stairs,” he paused to shudder, “I’ve nearly slipped down them in good weather.  But, I guess that means I have an excuse to get you to come back and visit in the summer!”

Mikleo smiled and covered part of it with his hand.  “I guess you do.”

“Yes!” Sorey celebrated, and then focused back on turning off the road, onto a private driveway that snaked even further up the hill and away from the other houses for another few hundred feet.  “Here we are!”

Mikleo couldn’t help but look up at the house, impressed, as they pulled to a stop and he climbed out of the car.  It wasn’t the largest home in town, but it certainly looked to be one of the oldest and fanciest.  A covered porch wrapped three quarters of the way around the front and one side of the building, supported by detailed columns.  The moldings and roof lines were decorated with intricate trim accented in yellow, and starting under the peak of the roof the shingles were painted in a gradient of colors from a dark blue that bordered on indigo all the way down to the lighter blue color of the rest of the house.

“This is beautiful,” Mikleo said.

As he had been staring, Sorey had come around the other side of the car and retrieved Mikleo’s bag.  He slipped his free hand into Mikleo’s, and said, “Thank you.  It’s over a hundred years old, so Gramps and I have taken an interest in preserving it.”

“You’ve done a good job.”

“Must be, if you’re complimenting me on it.  Now, shall we go meet Gramps?”

“Ah, yes, we should.”

Sorey gave Mikleo an understanding smile and another squeeze to his hand before leading them up the steps.  As soon as they were through the door, Sorey called, “Gramps, we’re home!”

A white-haired man stood from an armchair in front of the fire crackling in the parlor just off the entry way and came to meet them.  He had a stern brow and mouth, but what was visible of his eyes between the folds of his face were alight with both intelligence and excitement.  In a strange way, Mikleo could see a bit of family resemblance there.  He was also much shorter than Mikleo had imagined, over a foot shorter than him, even.  He tried to not let his surprise show on his face, or that he had nerves churning in his stomach again.

Before he had too long to work himself up, though, he was being offered a gnarled hand.  He took it, and found a stronger grip than he would have expected from appearances.

“I’m Zenrus, and you must be the Mikleo I’ve heard so much about.”

“Yes, nice to meet you, sir,” Mikleo said, taking extra care to make sure he wouldn’t stutter on this all-important first introduction.  “Thank you for inviting me for the holidays.”

“Of course.  By the way he tells it, you’ve done a lot to help Sorey settle in well at Elysia.  It’s the least I could do.  I’ll leave you to put your things away; I know that Sorey has straightened up all his books and made his room presentable for you,” Zenrus turned a piercing eye up at his grandson.

Sorey laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yes, Gramps.”

“Good.  Now, there won’t be too much time before temple, with how early the sun sets up here, but if you both change quickly, I might be able to show you photos of some of the research and preservation work that’s been done at Mabinogio recently.  Sorey said you had an interest.  And, there might even be a few pictures of my idiot grandson getting into places he shouldn’t in the bargain.”

Zenrus went back into the parlor while Sorey tugged Mikleo towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.  He looked over his shoulder briefly to mouth, ‘I told you,’ before resuming pulling him along.

They did manage to change relatively quickly, with only minor stalling for Sorey to trip over his tongue once Mikleo was dressed in his nicer clothing for the evening, and then to take an opportunity to swoop in and kiss the jewel set in the center of his circlet.  Another moment was lost to Mikleo blushing and hiding his face in Sorey’s chest.  But, they did still make it downstairs in time to see the pictures Zenrus had promised.  As one of the supervisors on the park, he had many, well-supplemented by a large supply of pictures of small Sorey stuck in some very strange places.  Mikleo tried not to laugh as best as he could, and Sorey took the experience in stride, with only minor blushing and small embarrassed laughs to match.

At dusk they made their way down the hill to Camlann’s small temple, to pay respects to Maotelus and his Lords.  The service was full of song and flickering candle light that danced on the stained-glass emblems in blue, green, red and gold, as they prayed for Maotelus to renew his light in the coming year, and the blessings of the Lords to be maintained over all of their elements.  It was so similar to home, Mikleo thought, and that helped to chase away any lingering anxiety he might have felt.

It was just the two of them on the way back up the hill later, as Zenrus would be staying behind with some of the other more devout members of the temple, to keep vigil and pray during the deep darkness of the long night.  He would rejoin them in the morning, for the feasting and present exchanges held at dawn in celebration of the new light.

“Gramps said he left some Drago Stew on in the crock pot for us for dinner.  And then, there are the traditional fireworks at midnight.  Other than that, did you have anything in particular in mind that you wanted to do?” Sorey asked, and then waited for Mikleo to shake his head.  “What would you say to cheesy kid’s holiday movies, then?”

“That sounds fine,” Mikeo said, and then reached out for Sorey’s hand.  He hissed as soon as his fingers came in contact; Sorey’s fingers were cold as they touched the back of his hand.  He raised their linked hands so that he could blow open-mouthed breaths on them.  “On second thought, maybe you should open your present tonight.”

“Wait, really?  I thought you wanted to be all traditional about it.”

“Well, if you don’t want to open it now, I suppose it can wait for tomorrow.”

“No way, I want to open it now!”

The corners of Mikleo’s mouth turned up as he got the reaction he had expected.  He gave Sorey’s cold hand one more squeeze and then released it so Sorey could unlock the door to the house.  

“Alright, wait down here, I’ll go get it.”  Mikleo darted up the stairs to retrieve the package he’d left next to his bag, and also took a moment to change into more comfortable clothing.  When he came back down, he found Sorey in the small kitchen, taking down bowls.  Just as expected, there was a crock pot with just the faintest trails of steam leaking from under the lid, sitting on the counter next to a stove that looked like it might be as old as the house itself.

“Since you were complaining about my cold hands, I figured we could both use some warming up.”

“Thank you,” Mikleo said, with a nod.  He waited until Sorey had put down his dishes before holding out the box.

Sorey took it with a smile and began carefully pulling apart the wrapping at the seams.  Mikleo was surprised; he’d figured Sorey for a ‘tear it to shreds’ kind of guy.  But, he was much more interested in watching for the reaction as Sorey opened the box.  It was well worth it when his mouth dropped open.

“Mikleo, these are… these are _amazing_ ,” he announced, and scooped one of the two gloves out of the box to look at it closer.  It was a white mitten, the type where the top could be folded back to expose fingerless gloves on the inside.  Mikleo had sewn gold ribbon around each of the open fingers, and red beads at the cuff – although he was still a bit put out that he’d had to use smaller beads than the historical design – and then painstakingly stitched the Shepherd’s crest onto the back of each.  “Did you make these yourself?”

“Yeah, I did,” Mikleo said, and felt himself blushing over the intensity of the light in Sorey’s eyes as he looked at him.  He cleared his throat and continued, “You seemed so excited about the legend when we were talking about it a few weeks back.  I thought it was something you might like.”

Sorey set the box aside so that he could pull a glove onto first one hand and then the other.  “I love them!  Thank you, Mikleo, so much.”  He stepped forward to pull Mikleo into a tight hug, who gladly curled into the hold.  Even if Sorey’s hands had been cold, the rest of him was wonderfully warm.

“I didn’t know you knew how to embroider,” Sorey murmured into his hair, after a long moment of just holding him.

“Not really.  I’ve always done the mending, but never anything this fancy before.  I ended up watching a lot of online videos.”

Sorey pulled away so he could look at Mikleo’s face again.  “That’s even cooler!! More cool?”

Mikleo laughed, and turned around so they could stand side by side.  He nudged Sorey lightly with his shoulder.  “I don’t think grammar’s the biggest concern here.  I think the biggest concern is if you’re going to give me my present early, too.”

“And you called me impatient.”  Despite his teasing, Sorey was already making his way from the kitchen.

Mikleo turned back towards the counter and began serving up the stew, while he listened to Sorey’s footsteps on the stairs, and then creaking on the old floorboards above.  As he set the bowls at the two-person table tucked into a corner under the window, the footsteps began to creak back in the opposite direction and then down the stairs.  Sorey returned to the kitchen with a large, square package.

“It’s nothing nearly as personal,” Sorey said, scratching the back of his neck.  Mikleo noticed that while he had also changed into casual clothing, he still hadn’t taken off the gloves. He had buttoned back the mitten tops so he could still use his fingers.  It was adorable.

No matter how cute Sorey was, that wasn’t going to let him off the hook.  Mikleo treated him to a world-class deadpan look, perfected over months of acquaintance with Edna.  “You stop that, I’m sure it will be great.  Now, hand it over so I can decide for myself.”

Sorey passed over the gift with a sheepish look, and settled himself in one of the kitchen chairs.  He didn’t touch his stew, but instead watched Mikleo intently.

Mikleo peeled back the paper with just as much care, to find a book.  The title, in simple writing meant to not distract from the photo underneath, read “Cities in the Sky: Mabinogio and Other Cliff Dwellings.”  The photo was of the cliff face, with Mabinogio looking so much like a carving in the mountainside, done by a giant’s hand.  He’d heard of this book before – mostly photography, with some historical commentary, and only released in small quantities.  It was notoriously hard to get a copy   Mikleo had to stop for a moment to run his hand across the photo, and to wonder how in the world it was pictured from such a magnificent angle.  Was the photographer in an aircraft?  

“Sorey, this is amazing,” he said, and opened the cover.  The title page showed an image of the towering temple guardian in a grand hall.

“I think you may have seen some of these already out of the collection Gramps showed you earlier, but I’m glad you like it!”

“This is by _Natalie Wainwright_ , of course I like it!  How in the world did you get one?”

“Ah, she actually lives three doors down, with her husband Mason.  They’ll be over for breakfast.”

“Wait, you can’t be serious?”

 “Of course!  This is the best place to live if your living is photographing Mabinogio, after all.”

“I suppose it makes sense.  But wow.”  He was just a little jealous of how much history and research Sorey was able to grow up with.  But also very satisfied with his gift.

Mikleo was tempted to forget about dinner, and just spend all evening looking through the book, but he forced himself to set it carefully aside, out of danger of any spilled stew.  After dinner, they made their way to the living room, and settled onto the couch next to the chair Zenrus had been occupying in front of the fire earlier that day.  Just to the side of the fireplace, partially obscuring one side of a set of packed built-in bookcases, was an old, clunky TV.  It worked just fine for the purpose of finding cheesy holiday cartoons to pass the time until the fireworks.

Mikleo only devoted a small portion of his attention to the shows.  The rest of it he spent on flipping through the pages of his book and admiring the pictures.  Some he did recognize from Zenrus’ collection, but there were plenty of new ones to hold his attention.

Sorey, for his part, didn’t seem to mind that Mikleo wasn’t concentrating on the movies; he didn’t seem to be fully focused, either.  He’d situated himself behind Mikleo, and pulled him into his lap, with arms around his middle.  Relatively frequently, he’d press soft little kisses into the back and sides of Mikleo’s neck, picking a new spot almost every time.  Sometimes he’d also steal Mikleo’s hand, to play with his fingers, or rub circles on the back, only returning it whenever he needed the hand to turn a page.

All of it made Mikleo’s stomach twist in the best of ways, and did nothing for his concentration.  By the time it was getting close to the fireworks, he was glad for the excuse to stand and move around again, though; he’d been starting to get restless under the attention.  He closed his book and set it on the table in front of the couch, before rotating his torso and sliding his hand behind Sorey’s neck to claim a real kiss.  Sorey’s arms tightened around his waist for just a moment, before releasing him so they could go prepare hot chocolate, blankets and other cold weather provisions.

* * *

 

It looked like the whole town of Camlann had come out for the fireworks.  And nearly every person had a wave or a word for Sorey as they made their way past in search of a spot on the town square to set up with their blankets and thermoses.  Mikleo hung back at first while Sorey said quick hellos and exchanged Solstice greetings.  Then, Sorey nudged him with a shoulder and whispered, “They all want to say hello to you, too.”

“Ah, okay,” Mikleo mumbled, and he could feel his face heating but that could be blamed on the cold air on his cheeks.  He wasn’t used to so many strangers taking a personal interest in him.  But, in a way, it was nice to know that Sorey had such a close, friendly community.  He started returning Solstice greetings after that.

The spot that Sorey found for them was a bit away from the rest of the crowd.  They laid out one blanket on the ground, and threw the other over their shoulders once they were settled.  Mikleo passed Sorey one of the thermoses and then opened his own and held it under his chin so the steam would warm his nose.

Between the covers and the cocoa, he wasn’t feeling quite so cold anymore.  That didn’t stop him from scooting closer to Sorey until their sides were pressed together.  Sorey looked at him with a soft smile and then turned back to look at the sky.

“How long will it be?” Mikleo asked.

“It shouldn’t be more than a few minutes,” Sorey said.  He opened the top of his own thermos and took a big sip before flinching back.  He just narrowly avoided spilling hot chocolate all over the both of them.  “Hot,” he whined, and stuck the burnt tip of his tongue out of his mouth.

“Shocking,” Mikleo said, and blew on his own hot chocolate before taking a much more careful sip.

“You’re mean.  I think for that, you should kiss it better.”

The way Sorey said it was obviously teasing, but Mikleo liked that suggestion.  “Okay,” he said and turned his head for a kiss.  Sorey’s nose was cold as they nudged together, but his lips were warm and tasted of chocolate.  The hand that wasn’t holding his thermos came to rest on the ground behind Sorey so he could press just a bit closer.

This time it was Mikleo’s turn to jump, though, as they heard the whine and then boom of the first firework.  He glanced over to see the last of the fading blue sparks.  Two more tiny points of light ascending followed quickly on its heels, and they exploded in a shower of white and gold.

Sorey laughed and said, “See, I told you it wouldn’t be long.”

“Now who’s mean?” Mikleo asked, but he had hardly any attention for his own words.  He was too fascinated by the next firework – one that burst into strands of light, and then the end of each strand crackling and fizzing like a mini firework.  Those were his favorite kind.

The whole fireworks show was beautiful, and much longer and more impressive than he had expected for such a small town.  He watched, and took sips of cocoa between booms, and maybe slipped his hand into Sorey’s part way through.  After the finale was over, Mikleo’s voice sounded loud in the silence and his ringing ears.  “You should come and see the fireworks show at my place sometime.  They set them off out to sea, and they reflect in the water.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Sorey said, but his voice sounded odd, distracted perhaps.  Mikleo looked over to see him gazing out at the night sky; the stars were bright and thickly clustered over the dark mountain, the same way they would be out over the ocean back home.

“Is everything alright?”

“Hm?  Oh, yes.”  Sorey’s eyes shifted to meet Mikleo’s and they were bright.  He unwound a hand from their blanket cocoon and brought it up to cup Mikleo’s cheek.  He’d pulled back the covers of the gloves so he could caress his face with a thumb.  His head drooped forward until their foreheads touched and their breaths mingled between them in a warm, foggy cloud.

“What’s this about, then?”  Mikleo asked, even as he leaned his cheek into Sorey’s hand.

“You know how for the Solstice we’re supposed to celebrate light and joy, and all the things we hope for in the new year?  Well, I just wanted to say I’m so glad I met you.  You’re beautiful, and smart, and kind – well, when you’re not teasing me, that is.  All the time, I just want to be around you, and talk to you, and kiss you.”  He said the last bit quietly, and his eyes drifted, for a moment, down to Mikleo’s lips before coming up to meet his eyes again.  “Mikleo, I love you.”

“Leave it to you to make a speech out of it,” Mikleo mumbled, feeling his cheeks flame.  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it before, though.  There had been little nudges here and there, in the warmth of Sorey next to him, in the way his face lit up with excitement at the smallest provocation, in listening to his sleepy voice on their late-night phone calls over the past month.  In the way all of this would make his chest and stomach squeeze with affection.  His chest was warm even now, and he felt more relaxed than he thought he would when he imagined hearing those words.  “I feel the same.”

Sorey grinned wide, and pulled his arms out of the blankets the rest of the way so he could crush Mikleo to him in a back-breaking hug.  He began raining kisses down on his hair and forehead, interspersing each with another declaration.

“Hey, hey!” Mikleo exclaimed and pushed at Sorey’s shoulders to gain a bit of breathing room from the hug, which was preventing him from taking in enough air.  “Just because you said it once doesn’t mean you have to say it a dozen times.”

Sorey loosened his hold and pulled back to examine Mikleo’s face.  At first, he looked a bit concerned and remorseful, but that disappeared in a flash.  He said, “Sorry,” as if he did not feel sorry in the slightest.  “But _I_ think,” he paused her for dramatic effect and a tiny kiss to the tip of Mikleo’s cold nose, “I think you liked it.”

“No comment.”

“Hmm, if you insist.”

Sorey did release Mikleo from his grasp, stood and then offered a hand.  The tips of his fingers were cold where he hadn’t bothered to pull the mitten covers back across the gloves, but the fabric was soft and his grip firm as he pulled Mikleo to his feet.


End file.
